A HAPPY NEW YEAR
Welcome to this month's article of Let’s Be Frank, a monthly newsletter series hosted on LinkedIn and authored by our founder Digby. If you are interested in following along pop over to the Let’s Be Frank LinkedIn page here and hit the subscribe button to have these articles sent straight to your inbox.
Wishing all:
A is for AltFee
AltFee is the legal tech product that supports pricing without the billable hour. I am so excited for the change this will bring about in the legal industry.
H is for hours
My belief is there is a better way to price than by the billable hour.
A is for attitude
Attitude is a mindset that is required to be effective in moving away from hourly billing. It is the mindset of being innovative and challenging the status quo.
P is for pricing
To be distinguished from the historical concept of charging clients for legal services. Pricing is a collaborative process, which connects value to the amount to be paid.
P is for passion
Passion is integral to any change. Passionate people are focused on what can be, rather than what is.
Y is for Happy New Year
This is the most important message in this post. Looking forward to 2023 and all there is to still accomplish.
N is for now
What better time than now to take your first step to move away from hourly billing.
E is for engage in change
Challenge the status quo to make the legal industry a better place to work.
W is for we
Pricing has moved from a one-way discussion of what law firms charge, to a collaborative “we-type'' discussion on “What does success look like for the client?”; “What should scope be?”; and “What are options as to how this might be priced?”
Y is for yes
When a client asks you if you will consider an AFA for a particular project - say yes! You are likely to get this type of request more and more, so start building systems now.
E is for entrepreneurial spirit
Without an entrepreneurial spirit, we will be stuck in what has always been. I congratulate all that boldly move forward and encourage lawyers to try pricing without the billable hour. In doing so, lawyers are able to consider not only the time it takes to complete the project, but also the value delivered to the client.
A is Alternative Fee Arrangements (AFAs)
AFAs are a collection of ways to price other than by hourly billing. Clients are demanding AFA’s from their legal service providers at an ever increasing rate.
R is for realization rates
Realization rates are the metrics we use to test how successful converting away from hourly billing has been for the firm. Our billing realization rate has gone from under 90% to just shy of 110%, which is a clear sign of increased efficiency through better systems and work allocation.
As always, I look forward to hearing what you think.
Until next time,
