Legal Marketing & PR

Is Widespread Use of Alternative Fees Still a Long Way Off?

By Tom Kane

According to a feature article in this month's InsideCounsel one consultant who helps clients structure alternative fee arrangements "estimates that only about 2% of total legal billings currently are being done on alternative basis - but he contends it's an increasing trend." That certainly isn't a surprise.

He goes on to say "I'd expect that almost 20% of all billings would be on alternative billing in eight to 10 years…" According to the article, 35% of respondents to Fulbright & Jaworski's Litigation Trends survey said that the down economy has pushed them "to increase their use of alternative fees.'

Based on that, I guess I'm just surprised to hear that it's going to take close to a decade for alternative fees to get up to 20% of billings. I'm just not sure I buy that. I believe that there will be quite a bit more than that by then.

InsideCounsel reports we'll hear from law firms in Part II of the article next month. If you don't want to wait that long, and want a more in-depth viewpoint from law firms , get a copy of my colleague Jim Hassett's survey report of his interviews with more than 1/3 of the AmLaw 100 law firm leaders. It was released recently, and only costs $395 (no, I don't get a penny of that). Find out more about it on Jim's Legal Business Development blog .

So, if it does take awhile for alternative fees to hit main street, it still gives small and medium-sized firms plenty of time to make inroads into the world of larger companies by offering alternative fees now, especially in the current economy.

Full post as published by Legal Marketing Blog on February 09, 2010 (boomark / email).