Legal Marketing & PR

Are You Offering Alternative Fees Yet?

By Tom Kane

Don't get left behind. My colleague Jim Hassett has talked extensively about alternative fees over on his Legal Business Development blog for months. Jim conducted interviews this year between June and September with many high level people at 37 of the AmLaw 100 law firms. He will publish his survey report next month. You can learn more about his survey, its modest cost and how you can get a copy by reading his post of yesterday.

I have seen a Preview Edition of the report and one statement struck me as quite interesting:

'Some large firms are aggressively pursuing the development of alternative billing, while others are taking a much more conservative approach.'

That led me to consider the advantage that small and mid-sized law firms still have over those taking the 'conservative approach.'  Smaller firms are still  in an excellent position to make in-roads into larger corporations by offering alternative fees while many of the larger firms are still contemplating their navels.

Since many BigLaw firms have a real hard time adapting to a changing environment, more efficient, flexible small and mid-sized firms have a real opportunity to pick up work traditionally 'belonging' to larger firms.

You might just want to pick up a copy of Jim's survey report when it comes out next month. In the meantime start planning to let your corporate contacts know just how adaptable your firm is to these changing times.

Full post as published by Legal Marketing Blog on November 12, 2009 (boomark / email).