Law Department Management Blog
The term “hourly billing” appears in so many posts here that it was hard for me to accept that I have not compiled the posts that pertain particularly to it. Worse, once I dug in to do so, I found that variations on the term are everywhere, such as “billing by the hour,” “bills based on hours worked,” etc. Since I have several times compiled posts on topics that are related – fixed fees, alternative billing, bill review — this metapost simply looked for posts that use the term “hourly billing” to make a significant point.
Anyway, at least 18 posts qualified (See my post of Oct. 26, 2005: durability of hourly billing; Jan. 4, 2006: top ten reasons from survey why hourly billing survives; March 12, 2006: different hourly rates per lawyer depending on complexity of task; June 5, 2006: Sarbanes-Oxley encourages hourly billing; Sept. 17, 2006: unsubstantiated claim about trend away from hourly billing; Oct. 24, 2007: goal – one quarter non-hourly bills; Nov. 11, 2007: strengths of hourly billing; Nov. 13, 2007: weaknesses of hourly billing; Nov. 24, 2007: hourly vs per diem billing; Nov. 27, 2007: top-ranked method of cost control; Dec. 19, 2007: hourly billing survives because of relative not absolute costs; Dec. 11, 2008: odd reason to stand by hourly billing; June 14, 2009: periodic determinations of payments; May 3, 2009: hyperpost on billing rates with 7 metaposts and 32 references; May 6, 2009: hourly billing discourages clients from calling; June 1, 2009: firms sell ideas, not time, as do ad agencies; Jan. 11, 2010: clients intervene in firm operations more with hourly billing; and Jan. 28, 2010: how often does software in-house fasten department to hourly billing.).