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Managing Alternatives to Hourly Rate Billing

By Joel A. Rose
August 01, 2003

Demands of clients and competition among law firms are causing fairly dramatic changes in the pricing of legal services, away from straight hourly billing.

Total fees under an hourly rate system are frequently not limited by efficiencies, but rather by client controls, the size and scope of the matter, the lawyer's desire to be reasonable or at least not to alienate the client, and competition among firms. It is easy for law firms to price legal services on the basis of hourly time charges. Such pricing requires only the ability to set a rate, to accumulate time entries, and to do the math. But it is not easy to price legal services on a basis other than straight hourly rates. Lawyers are generally not trained in the art of estimating legal fees for particular matters, and many engagements do not lend themselves to easy prediction as to total time.

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