Why Crowell & Moring’s Vendors and Clients are Happy
Traditional methods of billing—and paying—aren’t followed at Crowell & Moring.
The law firm has already paid many of its 2009 expenses, according to partner Scott Winkelman, a member of the firm’s executive committee. “We have prepaid millions of dollars’ worth of expenses … whether they be insurance issues or vendor costs or otherwise,” Winkelman told The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.
Winkelman said the firm is in a good financial position because of a strong showing by its regulatory and government contracts practice groups, the blog reports.
Crowell & Moring is also taking an unconventional approach with regards to client billing by moving away from the billable hour. He said the firm uses a “hold-back” arrangement in which clients pay part of their fees on a monthly basis and settle up for the rest of the bill, based on services received, at year’s end.
“The billable hour is, if not dead, getting very, very sick at Crowell & Moring,” Winkelman told the blog.
