Features

Shielding Retainer Fees Prior to Client's Bankruptcy
Which type of retainer agreement gives attorneys the best chance to preemptively shield their retainer fees before a client ends up in bankruptcy or the Department of Justice seizes and forfeits the client's assets?
Features

Undercutting the Cost of Underperforming Attorneys
As a firm leader it is your fiscal responsibility to address underperforming attorneys. With COVID-19 are your underperformers flying under the radar? The cost to a firm is not only to the bottom line, but to your reputation as a leader.
Features

Estate Professionals Can Be Compensated for Services Performed Before Entry of a Retention Order, Even Without Nunc Pro Tunc Orders
Bankruptcy professionals should be relieved by a recent decision holding that although nunc pro tunc orders approving a professional's retention are now considered "inappropriate" in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan, there is nothing in the Bankruptcy Code, Bankruptcy Rules, or applicable case law preventing an award of compensation before a retention order is entered.
Features

Introducing Pricing Transparency to Legal Services
The COVID-19 crisis has caused a money crunch across industries, and CLD budgets are tightening. This downturn demands that CLDs stop writing blank checks for services of indeterminate scope and duration. Here are some ideas for law departments looking to do better.
Features

Lateral Partner Survey Casts Doubt on Compensation as King
In a survey conducted by Major, Lindsey & Africa, lateral partners put firm culture and practice support ahead of anticipated compensation when considering a new firm.
Features

Appellate Division Complicates the Rules for Municipalities Charging Consultants' Fees
In a case addressing what consulting fees (in particular attorneys' fees) can be charged to an applicant before a Zoning Board of Appeals, the Second Department in Landstein v. Town of LaGrange found that the Town had overreached its statutory authority.
Features

Only 30% of Workday Is Spent on Billable Hours, Report Says
U.S. lawyers are still spending too little of their workday on billable hours, a year after an eye-opening report found lawyers devoted only 29% — 2.3 hours — of each eight-hour workday to billable hours.
Features

Cost Recovery in 2018: Predicting Winners and Losers
Back in March of this year, we predicted changes and trends the results of the 2018 Mattern Cost Recovery Survey would reveal. At that time, we got our…
Features

Salary Hikes Not So Impressive After Inflation
Law firms have bumped up starting salaries for associates at top firms over the past few years, prompting Big Law clients to raise a stink about outsized salaries for junior lawyers. But it turns out that this pay falls short of past peaks when inflation is taken into account.
Features

Litigation Funders Face Their Hardest Sell: Big Law
There Is More Money Than Ever In the Hands of Litigation Financiers, But Can They Convince Law Firms to Use It?
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