Some of you are still not getting it. We’ve said it before, fixing fees at the outset is not the same as a ‘fixed’ fee.
For those of you who think you are, or you might be, fixing fees, but still feel a bit confused about the concept, we have put together a short list for you to check yourself.
Simply put, if you are still doing any of the following you are not yet living the dream:
1. Calculating a fee by reference to how long you anticipate something might take and multiplying it by your hourly rate rather than by the value you plan to deliver to a client
2. Quoting the hourly rates in your engagement letter
3. Keeping a record of the time you incur in acting on the matter
4. Wasting money on expensive time recording software
5. Setting budgets by multiplying the number of lawyers with the number of required billing hours
6. Making junior lawyers do the work in an attempt to meet the “fixed “fee
7. Not recording your time when the fee quote is exceeded
8. Asking colleagues to help but not to record their time
9. Refusing to do anything not directly agreed
10. Asking the client for more money when the agreed fee exceeds the time recorded
11. Writing off time that exceeds the agreed fee if the client will not pay more
12. Valuing your worth to your business by the number of hours you bill
13. Paying lawyer bonuses and promoting people on the number of hours they bill
In 2019 – burn the time sheets and kill the hourly rate.
