New Law Firm Is Designed Like a Timeshare
A lawyer from Latham & Watkins who started a new law firm with a different business model says lots of people are talking about the death of the billable hour, but for years few people did anything about it.
Sue Wang aims to change that with her Clarity Law Group, a five-lawyer law firm with offices in Illinois and Washington, D.C., the Washington Post reports. Wang and her former roommate at the University of Michigan law school, Leah Goodman, came up with the idea for the firm on a recent vacation to Greece.
The story describes the law firm this way: “Clarity Law Group is designed like a timeshare, where clients pay a set fee for access to the entire firm, Wang said. The firm also reduces costs by forgoing the standard luxuries at big-name firms like secretaries, wall art and swanky office space.”
Wang told the Post that the Clarity Law Group is a hybrid of a big outside law firm and in-house counsel. Each client is assigned two lawyers, but other lawyers can be tapped if their expertise is needed. She hopes to attract start-up and small companies as clients.
The law firm website says it exclusively recruits lawyers from from top-quality firms, and it uses “21st-century communication methods and flexible office space” instead of “impressive designer offices.” The site also says hourly rates are still an option.
