Frank Fee and Its Impact on the Culture of Our Law Firm
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.
Workplace culture is one of the top issues facing businesses today, and DL&Co. is no different.
Looking back, before we introduced Frank Fee, our workplace culture was definitely good - not only for a law firm, but for any business. We have always had a clear vision and set of company values that have been the thread that runs through everything we do. We are a collaborative, fun-loving culture that draws like-minded people to want to work together. Humans first, lawyers second.
The arrival of Covid turned the world on its head. In March 2020, almost everyone believed we were entering the most uncertain of times. For most, major changes to our way of life, challenged our realities, forcing us to adapt.
The impact of the pandemic on businesses has been massive. Surviving through Covid has been difficult to say the least. Companies have been facing large-scale workplace resignations, not enough people looking for work, changing customer and employee expectations, spiraling inflation, and interest rates exponentially on the rise.
In response to all of this, the workplace experience has changed. Businesses now need to adjust their corporate cultures to compliment the new realities of the working world. We know there is no “silver bullet” answer, and our firm lives with these challenges as we navigate our way into our post-Covid reality.
At DL&Co., like many other law firms in the post-Covid world, we are figuring out hybrid working environments, adapting to necessary technological changes, navigating staffing and retention challenges, and addressing fee earner burnout. We decided to embrace change, and one thing we have done is made the bold decision to move away from hourly billing.
We expected this move to have a significant effect on our workplace culture. We are now two years later, and can look back on the impact that moving away from hourly billing has had. One thing we know for sure is the work experience for our team at DL&Co. is far better for having made this change:
Our people are no longer evaluated for recording billable hours. They are incentivized to work on systems to boost efficiencies. These efficiencies impact their ability to contribute to revenue, while requiring staff to spend fewer hours doing so.
We no longer have to explain to clients how we spent our time on their file. One of the most difficult conversations used to be explaining why it was important to discuss an issue internally. We now have virtually no account receivables, and no one ever enjoys having those conversations with clients.
Now we get to have in-depth conversations with clients before starting work. We spend more time listening, less time telling, and we get to know our clients better. This ultimately leads to a greater alignment of interests.
It feels great knowing that clients will pick up the phone or email you whenever they want, as they are not fearful of that affecting their legal costs.
Our use of @AltFee technology as the foundation of our Frank Fee pricing system, provides for a highly collaborative approach. This allows us to work more as a true team, and in less isolation (even when working remotely).
Overall, moving away from hourly billing with Frank Fee has created an easy flow of communication, where conversations with clients are so much better, and working together as a team is a reality. This makes coming to work great, which is so important in today’s workplace.
Until next time,
