Paying law firms based partly on client satisfaction scores

A columnist in Litigation Management (Summer 2003 at 46) www.lawexec.com wrote, somewhat tongue in cheek, about paying law firms based in part on the evaluations the firms received from the law department and its clients. “We’ll hold back a portion of invoices – say 20 percent – and then [the law firm] will get 0 percent to 200 percent of that amount [the held back portion] based on their grades.”

An exceptional performance, doubling the holdback amount of 20 percent, would mean the firm would get 120 percent of its invoice amount.

Don’t bite that tongue. The nugget of this idea – pay if satisfied with performance – has appeal.