Even If Billable Hour is Banned, Some Lawyers Still Want to Account for Time

Amidst the dismal economy, layoffs, pay cuts and constant pressure to work more efficiently for corporate clients is some definite good news, one might think: As law firms increasingly embrace alternatives to charging clients on a billable-hour basis, there may foreseeably come a time when lawyers no longer must submit daily timesheets itemizing the minutes they spent on client matters.

Think again. Even as some lawyers are envisioning a potential billable-hour-free practice with a breath of relief, others are arguing that practitioners should still render a detailed accounting of their work every day ... in order to be more efficient, recounts a Law21 post today summarizing a growing debate on the issue. Otherwise, the argument goes, how is a law firm to measure the value of the work its associates do?

Not everyone, of course, agrees with this view.

"Associates are overhead. Just like coffee filters," writes partner Jay Shepherd of the Shepherd Law Group in a Client Revolution post earlier this month. And, just like office rent, associate time isn't something clients want to pay for, he argues. Hence, tracking how an associate spends his or her time is—or should be—pointless.

"Profit is revenue minus expenses. The question is whether the firm is profitable, not whether an associate or a client is profitable," he writes. "The relevant question for a client is whether you’re delivering enough value to the client to justify the best price they would pay. The relevant question for an associate is whether he or she does good work for your clients."

Hat tip: Legal Blog Watch.