Overview

The demise of the billable hour – the standard method used by law firms to charge clients – has been long predicted by some commentators. Indeed, its inevitable demise has passed by osmosis into the collective consciousness of the legal profession. The billable hour will die. It’s not a question of if but simply when.

To be fair to those commentators, the case against the billable hour can seem crushing, while the defence raised by the legal profession seems entirely self-serving.

Critics are quick to point out that hourly billing presents the temptation for lawyers to bill as many hours as possible. However, they rarely stop to acknowledge that, in framing that issue as some kind of rule of nature, they are implying that lawyers are inefficient and slothful at best, and dishonest at worst.

The insinuation behind the debate is that the billable hour represents some kind of gigantic closed-shop, run by lawyers for the benefit of lawyers, with the tacit complicity of other lawyers in-house.

Motive Legal takes a closer look at the long-standing debate and questions the future of billable hours.

To read more please click ‘view briefing’.