Law Firm Profitability

The Case for Value Billing

Alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) are about value, a benefit legal departments are increasingly pressured to bring to their companies. When hiring an outside lawyer, clients are not looking for "hours," and they certainly are not looking for tenths of hours. They seek value.

Matter profitability matters. Yet most firms struggle to measure it in a manner that is accurate, focused on the levers partners control, and inclines partners to take action. Using margin per-partner-hour (MPH) to measure profitability delivers on these objectives.

Economics tells us an industry that experiences a drop in aggregate demand, adds production capacity, and increases the market overlap among competitors will suffer price erosion and profitability decline. Law firms fit this profile. Yet, in talking with law firm partners, you don't get the sense that any such "disruption" is happening. Perhaps economics has bypassed law?

This article explores whether or not it makes sense to organize your law firm as a professional benefit corporation and/or B Corp to help you attract the growing number of clients seeking a law firm aligned with their social and environmental values.

Law firms may want to leverage a specific law firm management technology to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace, but might not want to purchase those tools outright. How are you equipping your firm to succeed both in the present day and into the future?

Matter profitability matters. Yet most firms struggle to measure it in a manner that is accurate, focused on the levers partners control, and inclines partners to take action. Using margin per-partner-hour (MPH) to measure profitability delivers on these objectives.

Microsoft's vow to make its outside lawyers bill nearly all their work under alternative fee arrangements caused a stir, given large law firms' traditional devotion to the billable hour. But for a growing number of mostly smaller firms, those anxieties highlight a Big Law business model they've already left behind.

Law firms may want to leverage a specific law firm management technology to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace, but might not want to purchase those tools outright. How are you equipping your firm to succeed both in the present day and into the future?