City law firms to reform hourly fee system after client complaints

Leading London law firms are reforming their decades-old system of hourly charges under pressure from clients complaining of high fees at a time of soaring legal industry profits. Top firms told the Financial Times they were increasingly offering alternatives to hourly rates and making more use of cost-cutting business practices, such as putting services offshore. Tim Jones, head of the London office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, said that, although hourly billing still had a "fairly central role in most people's thinking", firms were increasingly offering clients deals such as fixed fees or rates tied to the success of transactions.

City law firms to reform hourly fee system after client complaints ft.com Tue, Feb 26, 2008