Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Escaping the Billable Hours Trap


The crusade against the billable hour continues. This week Jeff Bleich, President of the State Bar of California added his name to the list of advocates who want to get rid of the billable hour in the California Bar Journal The point of this debate is neatly summed up in the conclusion to his article:

"The point is that as a profession, we need to start finding billing methods that will reduce distrust and damage to our client relationships, that will refocus young lawyers on being problem-solvers again, and that will remind us of — rather than distract us from — why we are lawyers in the first place."

And so say all of us. Well, nearly all. Ron Baker of the Versage Institute has a few words words to say here.