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Kommt das Ende der "billable hour" bald?

Charging by the hour—or in six-minute blocks—was originally meant to improve transparency. The problem, says Hugh Totten, a member with Valorem (latin for “value”), a new Chicago-based law firm that offers clients contingency fees (payable only if the result is favourable) and fixed fees, is that the billable hour “creates an incentive for endless litigation and for a complete lack of efficiency.”

This critical refrain isn’t new. In a 2002 report, the American Bar Association’s commission on billable hours blamed hourly quotas for driving young lawyers from the profession (an estimated 45 per cent of lawyers quit law by their third year), and for leaving little time for pro bono work. The commission identified several alternatives. While many private law firms provide options to favoured clients, most lawyers still work on the clock (91 per cent of legal work in Canada is based on billable hours). When asked how quickly firms are shifting from that model, Richard Stock, founding partner of Vancouver-based legal strategist Catalyst Consulting, laughs: “Global warming is faster.”

Nicht uninteressanter Artikel auf Macleans.ca, der Alternativen zur "billable hour" darstellt. Aufmerksame ...jurabilis!-Leser werden jetzt u.a. an das legendäre Wal-Mart-Memo denken müssen.

Full post as published by jurabilis - German bLAWg from Berlin. on May 20, 2008 (boomark / email).