Legal Mosaic Essays on Legal Delivery

<strong>Legal</strong> <strong>Mosaic</strong>: <strong>Essays</strong> on <strong>Legal</strong> Delivery
are only a handful of those globally. I hire individual lawyers-the firm
is incidental and, frankly, something I factor into the cost of hiring the
lawyer I want.”
We proceeded to billing rates. There, it’s all about the matter complexity
and/or novelty and the number of lawyers who can do the job capably.
“In bet –the- company cases,” my friend pointed out, “a handful
of lawyers might be equipped to do the job well, and, so, they command
high fees. And I don’t quibble over those fees. Then there are my
lawyers who handle less complicated, more routine matters-the legal
equivalent of doctors conducting routine physicals. Their judgment is
important too, but there are more of them who can do the job and, so,
I pay them commensurately lower fees. Each category of lawyer is important;
their value is determined by their scarcity.”
“So it’s a numbers game with lawyers who can do the job,” I said. “You
choose from a group of lawyers whose expertise and judgment you
trust, and you pay them by the value that type of work has for you.”
He agreed.
“So let’s return to the firm and the value it drives,” I said.
“Not much in most instances,” he said, “if I had my way I would hire
a particular lawyer and then tap into a network of support lawyers who
would work under her/his direction-and at substantially lower rates that
are more in line with the value I perceive they deliver to the tasks they are
performing. I don’t ascribe much value to most firms, especially those
whose only common denominators are name and high billing rates.”
The days of “for services rendered” are over. Likewise, disaggregation
of many legal tasks-and the “productizing” of others have challenged
the traditional assumption that law firms and their expensive structures
are necessary to handle legal work. Witness the steady growth of in-
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