Companies are taking a variety of approaches to structuring alternative fee arrangements. Some are instituting flat fees for work performed by their most active law firms, whereas others are negotiating lower rates for relatively more predictable matters (e.g. patent filings, etc.) across all firms. Regardless of the approach, sound and capable processes must exist for the rapid retrieval of timely, accurate and clear information. Otherwise, process volatility in the form of manual rework and adjustments will reduce the value promised by such arrangements.
For example, assume your company is to receive rate discounts on all work performed on relatively routine matters. Can the law firm’s billing system adjust rates at the point of time entry based on the client and matter type, or must attorneys and staff adjust rates manually at month-end? Can your staff quickly quantify the savings derived from this arrangement when bills are imported and processed, or must they transfer the information to spreadsheets for analysis and summarization?
Carefully consider questions such as these. After all, instituting predictable fees for predictable matters makes sense. Just make sure your processes do, too.