Features
Hourly Billing in FTX Bankruptcy Already At Historically High Level
Attorneys and consultants involved in the FTX bankruptcy have asked the District of Delaware bankruptcy court to approve billed hours and expenses totaling just under $37 million for the first six weeks of Chapter 11 proceedings.
Features
Despite Aggressive Rate Increases from Law Firms, Clients Have Room to Negotiate
Rate increases across the legal industry haven't been as big as the conventional wisdom implies, and clients have more room to negotiate than they probably realize.
Features
Copyright Attorney Fees Ruling in Friday the 13th Termination Case
The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut granted Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller partial attorney fees totaling more than $886,564, in his long-running fight against the 1980 horror film's production outfit Manny Co. over proceeds from the film.
Features
Billing Rates Have Increased, But Not Enough to Beat Inflation
Law firm billing rates have increased across all law positions in 2022, but not necessarily enough to keep pace with inflation. That's according to news reports that point to some more challenges for law firm profits.
Features
The Four Legal Sales Strategies
The 'best choice' provider pitch may not be the optimal sales strategy. It's better to adjust to where the prospect is in their buying decision process — whether that means they are looking for providers, they are studying the situation, they already have counsel, or they have decided not to address the issue.
Features
Midlevel Survey Shows What Law Firms Are Getting Right — and Wrong
Midlevel associates aren't less willing than their predecessors to do the brain-bending amount of work. It's that after two years of billing massive hours through an isolating global pandemic, they're completely disloyal to the status quo. They kept firms going, they made partners rich, and now they plan to reshape the profession in their image.
Features
Are Large Firm Rates Pushing Clients to Seek Other Alternatives?
Firms have been especially deliberate during the pandemic to increase the number of touch points they have with existing business, deepening ties with their roster of current clients by referring matters across practices and rewarding partners for that kind of origination. But with marketing spend surging and clients increasingly willing to move work around, Big Law firms' incumbent advantage could begin to wane.
Features
Current Economic Climate Likely to Cause Law Firms to Offer Flexible and Creative Fee Arrangements
The current economic climate will incline lawyers, specifically litigators, to rethink their fee structures. With inflation at a 40-year high, residential and commercial rents rising, and a predicted looming recession, clients are tightening their budgets, but also demanding the same level of service and results from their attorneys.
Features
While Associate Salaries Rise to Fight Talent War, Counsel Are Asking, 'Where's Mine?'
Uncertainty at most firms has led some Big Law counsel to become unhappy or disgruntled. They may be working the same long hours as their firms' associates, but, in some cases, they're now making less than lawyers with less experience. As a result, many counsel have been reaching out to recruiters.
Features
Rate Hikes Threatening Trusted Status with Clients
After years of clients working to trim their roster of firms to a trusted group that understands the specific challenges of their businesses, rate hikes are threatening to upset these delicate relationships.
Need Help?
- Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
- Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.
MOST POPULAR STORIES
- The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year LaterThe DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.Read More ›
- The Business of Legal Spend: How Finance Professionals Can Drive Smarter Outside Counsel ManagementLegal spend has become a core business issue that now shapes financial planning, operational decision making and risk management. What once lived primarily in the legal department has become a shared responsibility across client legal, finance, and operations teams and their outside counsel.Read More ›
- Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar InvestigationsThis article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.Read More ›
- The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance ProgramsThe parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.Read More ›
- When Efficiency Meets the Duty to Verify: Reflections on The Verification-Value ParadoxThe Verification-Value Paradox states that increases in efficiency from AI use “will be met by a correspondingly greater imperative to manually verify” the outputs. The result is that the net value of AI in many legal contexts may be negligible once verification is honestly accounted for. For low-stakes tasks, verification costs are light. For core legal work, verification costs are heavy. That’s the tension.Read More ›
