The billable hour isn't going anywhere soon

The billable hour is seen as rewarding inefficiency, putting intense and unhealthy pressure on associates and undermining the culture of law firms and the profession. When the economic climate gets tough, law firms make efforts to appear responsive to these criticisms, but this system of billing never really goes away. One reason for the persistence of this method of billing is that it is supported by the majority of US High Court justices. In the recent decision of Perdue v Kenny A. The Court used the ‘lodestar method’ (hours worked times billing rate) to determine the costs to be paid to the prevailing party, and rejected the argument "that departures from hourly billing are becoming more common." As a result, lawyers will stick to hourly billing in order to maximize the chance that the court will approve their fees.

The billable hour isn't going anywhere soon amlawdaily.typepad.com Mon, Aug 30, 2010