Food giant Kraft Foods has rewarded one of its law firms for its common sense approach to reducing and controlling legal costs. This in and of itself isn’t so surprising, inasmuch as companies like DuPont, United Technologies and others have taken similar actions. The big difference is that Kraft has lauded Morgan Lewis for controlling legal costs using the billable hour, as opposed to alternative fee arrangements.
Given the rush to alternative fee arrangements since the recession began, might we be seeing a new equilibrium emerging, where alternative fees drive new thresholds of billable hour efficiency?