Death of billables?

We have discussed the death of billables on this blog in the past, but in the last six months or so the topic hasn't received much press. At least until this morning... here is an interesting analysis from the WSJ blog on why the idea isn't taking off as fast as was predicted a few months ago.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/08/30/is-the-billable-hour-going-away-not-according-to-the-supreme-court/?blog_id=14&post_id=33088

I'd Like a Reply Memo in a Size 8, Please

For those of you who dream of an idyllic world without billables think of private practice's extreme alternatives. Here is one example from the ABA: How Law Practice Will Become Like Off-the-Rack Suits. Read the complete article at:http://www.abajournal.com/news/how_law_practice_will_become_like_off-the-rack_suits/

The Fall of the Billable Hour Paradigm?

You have voted on the future of the billable hour: most of you want to do away with the billable hour by focussing on alternatives (62%); many of you continue believe in the utility of the billable hour and want the profession to stick with it (25%); and only a small minority despise the billable hour enough to want to "kill it" (12%).

Don't forget to vote on our new survey on the right side of the screen -- has your firm's summer lunch policy changed?

We Can't Get Enough Talk About Billables

Click on the link below to read what the ABA has to say about the hottest topic the profession--alternatives to billables. http://www.abanet.org/media/youraba/200812/article03.html

Bye Bye Billables, reprise

Even the New York Times weighs in on the dialogue concerning the death of billables in Billable Hours Giving Ground at Law Firms By Jonathan D. Glatner, which you can find here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/business/30hours.html?emc=eta1

Are we moving to a flat-fee system?

Our latest survey results correspond to the latest trends concerning the way we lawyers charge our clients. Forty-six percent of those surveyed bill clients in ways other than the billable hour. Other lawyers who charge some flat, contingent or success fees comprise another 5% of those surveyed. But hourly billables are not dead for our survey-takes. Thirty-four percent of those surveyed are still charging an hourly billable rate 100% of the time.

Will billables go bye bye?

I am sure many of you read Jonathan D. Glatners article in the New York Times on November 12, 2008, entitled "Law Firms Feel Strain of Layoffs and Cutbacks": http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/business/12law.html?emc=eta1

The most compelling passage to me had to do with the demise of the billable hour, which is a buzzing topic in the legal press of late:

"A survey of about 600 corporate executives by Acritas, a London-based research firm, found that 32 percent expected billing practices to change over the next two years.
'Rather than having hourly rates, we are increasingly negotiating flat fees or fixed fees, or success fees,' which include a premium based on predetermined conditions, said Ivan K. Fong, chief legal officer and secretary at Cardinal Health in Dublin, Ohio, and chairman of the Association of Corporate Counsel. Some law firms have resisted those changes, he continued, but may find they have to accept clients’ wishes.'"

So do you think the billables will die? and how soon from now . . . .