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More Law Firms Charging Fixed Fees, Study Says

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Cisco Systems Inc. spurns hourly billing arrangements by its law firms, spending about 75 percent of its legal budget paying fixed fees.

The company is a leader in alternative billing, a growing trend, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. Such arrangements are made possible by electronic billing and matter-management software programs that help law firms estimate the costs of legal work.

Sixty-two percent of 150 general counsel at large companies responding to a General Counsel Roundtable survey said they used fixed fees “once in a while,” up from 54 percent in a 2002 study, the newspaper reports.

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