Value not cost

The American Bar Association has launched an investigation into billable hours amid ‘growing concern’ that the demands of increasing billables is compromising the health and well-being of lawyers. Many practitioners are complaining that their worth is being judged solely in terms of the amount of hours billed and not in the quality of those hours or on other factors. The ABA President, Robert Hirshon, said: ‘Firms will have to think differently, not an easy proposition for traditionally conservative, risk-averse institutions. But for the sake of profitability and the preservation of that wonderful law firm life, we must begin to look at value instead of cost when determining fair payment for services rendered. It will mean some risk. It will mean that efficiency and process improvements will increase profits’.