The Voice of the Client: Billing As a Marketing and Business Development Tool

Over the last several years, I have spent considerable time interviewing key clients of law firms, discovering what they like, what they don't like, and how the law firm can enhance the relationship. Inevitably, during most of these client interviews we get around to talking about fees and billing. Psychologists have said that most communication is nonverbal, and one need only observe a client discussing billing to understand how correct those psychologists are. Interestingly, the attorney-client relationship at the outset is one of conflict ' the attorney generally gets paid more the more hours are spent on a matter, and the client works hard to minimize those hours. Alternative fees have ameliorated some of the conflict, but most firms still use hourly based billing for most matters. The following information and recommendations come directly from clients ' the consumers of your legal services.