Market Areas > Practice Management > Alternative Billing

Alternative Billing: How to Structure, Implement and Champion Fixed Fees

Course Description:

No other billing method has come close to knocking the billable hour off its lofty perch…until now.

With the recession crimping legal budgets, companies are fighting back against law firms' longstanding practice of billing them by the hour.  In fact, one survey found an increase of more than 50 percent in 2009 in corporate spending on alternatives to the traditional hourly-fee model.

According to BTI Consulting Group Inc., which surveyed 370 lawyers at Fortune 1000 companies, money spent on alternative billing arrangements in 2009 totaled $13.1 billion, up from $8.6 billion in 2008.

There’s no doubt alternatives are an important factor when getting and developing new client relationships today.  Clients are demanding predictability and value and if you’re to build your client relationships you have to develop pricing structures that meet these priorities.

Find out how to kick start implementation of alternatives to hourly billing in this second level CCM audio conference recording.  Our expert panel will move beyond “why” and focus on “how” leading firms are moving away from the billable hour.

With this critical “how to do it” program, experts who have implemented alternatives to hourly billing at their firms will also present techniques for building billing arrangements that assure value for both the firm and your clients. 

During this “from the trenches” program, you will also learn:

• What you need to know to get started
• What works- through non-hourly billing case studies
• What’s different for large firms
• The risks and rewards of alternative fees
• Strategies for bidding that will get you the business
• How to manage alternative fees for increased client satisfaction
• How to avoid budget busting arrangements

Featured Faculty:

Joshua Krumholz, Partner, Holland & Knight

Joshua Krumholz, a trial attorney and the national Practice Group Leader for the firm’s Intellectual Property Group, focuses primarily upon intellectual property litigation, with a particular focus upon patent litigation. His practice covers a variety of technologies and jurisdictions. Over the past eight years, Mr. Krumholz has been successful in all eight cases he has taken to trial, including successful jury verdicts in the Eastern District of Texas, Massachusetts and New Jersey. He also has achieved successful verdicts in a bench trial in Michigan and arbitrations in Sweden and Massachusetts. Mr. Krumholz is a Trial Adviser for Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Program, provides yearly talks on current patent issues at Cowen & Company conferences, and speaks regularly on current topics in the patent field.

Christopher Marston, Esq., CEO and Founder, Exemplar Law Partners, LLC

Christopher is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Exemplar Law Group and Exemplar Companies. Exemplar is the first business law firm in the nation to abandon hourly billing in favor of a fixed-price model.

MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE:

Pricing:

CLE:

CCM provides audio conference attendees with CLE credit processing services. To expedite CCM processing your CLE request, please complete and submit the evaluation form available from CCM at the conclusion of the audio conference. It will be necessary to enter the following information: name of each attorney requesting CLEs with full contact information, including e-mail address, bar number, and the state in which the attorney wants credits. Each attorney requesting credits must submit an evaluation.

Please be advised CCM audio conferences are subject to approval from each CLE issuing organization and approval is not guaranteed (state bar associations in Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania do not grant CLE credits for audio conferences). The approval process takes approximately 6 - 8 weeks for most organizations but can take as long as 3 - 4 months. You will be notified via e-mail with the final status of your CLE application.

Any person applying for CLE credits must attend the audio conference from start to finish (attendance will be taken for compliance reasons). Requests for CLE credits must be received no later than two weeks following the conclusion of the audio conference or live conference. CLE credits are not available for CD recordings.

If you have any questions regarding CLE credits, contact Jill Adler at 631.368.2082 x 21 or jill.adler@meeting-matters.com.

Each CCM event presents a variety of information and is presented for each organization to develop its own approach and methodology.