New Firm to Use Alternative Billing in Commercial Disputes
Three former big-firm lawyers have formed a new law firm in Chicago that will use alternative billing in commercial civil litigation. The firm’s new name will be the Valorem Law Group, which is Latin for “value.”
The firm will bill clients using fixed rates, contingency fees and other alternative arrangements, the National Law Journal reports. If clients want to be billed on an hourly basis, the rates will likely be less than $500 an hour.
One of the founding lawyers, Patrick Lamb, says clients will be able to change charges on their legal bills on the “value adjustment line.” Lamb, who has worked at Katten Muchin Rosenman and Butler Rubin Saltarelli & Boyd, writes about the new venture on his blog.
Other founders are Hugh Totten of Perkins Coie, and Mark Sayre of Jackson & Wallace.
The firm will keep costs down by outsourcing some legal work to offshore law firms.
