GCs Disclose Sticking Points to Alternative Fees
A new survey has found alternative fee arrangements are being discussed more often, but comments by some general counsel indicated there are several sticking points to such arrangements.
The survey by the Association of Corporate Counsel and the American Lawyer found a disconnect between the percentage of law firms that say they are discussing alternative billing, and the number of general counsel who report such discussions.
Corporate Counsel has the figures. Ninety-three percent of law firms reported an increased willingness to discuss alternative fees, compared to 61 percent of general counsel at companies with revenues of $1 billion or less and 69 percent at companies with revenues greater than $1 billion.
In a separate article, Corporate Counsel reports on some of the verbatim comments by general counsel who took the survey. They include:
“Virtually all firms are willing to talk about alternative fee arrangements, but few are actually willing to commit.”
“I don’t feel comfortable negotiating alternative fee arrangements because I don’t know enough about them and am not confident I can be fair to my employer.”
“I believe one of the reasons law firms are reluctant to embrace billing arrangements other than time costing is their lack of confidence in scoping and estimating matters at the outset.”
“The firms all seem to think ‘alternative’ means an alternative path to the same high fee. … Most lawyers don’t perceive their service as a business with wins/losses. They just want wins with no liability, and this doesn’t make sense to a corporate client.”
