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&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;Law is unique: in no other profession, with the possible exception of the world&amp;#8217;s oldest,&amp;nbsp;does one get paid more for taking &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;more&lt;/i&gt; time to perform a task.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;?xml:namespace prefix=&quot;o&quot; ns=&quot;urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office&quot;?&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;The billable hours system: it&#39;s hard to imagine an institution so entrenched and powerful and yet bereft of even apologists, not to even speak of defenders or advocates.&amp;nbsp; Kim Jong-il, the New England Patriots, the metric system&amp;#8212;even these villains have outspoken fans.&amp;nbsp; Not so for the monetized six-minute increment. &lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;The crux of Scott Turow&amp;#8217;s widely&amp;nbsp;discussed piece &lt;em&gt;The Billable Hour Must Die&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;is that the system is almost certainly inherently unethical (&quot;I have been unable to figure out how our accepted concepts of conflict of interest can possibly accommodate a system in which the lawyer&amp;#8217;s economic interests and the client&amp;#8217;s are so diametrically opposed.&quot;)&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Moreover, Turow laments all the attendant unpleasantness that the increasing primacy of &lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;billables brings. &amp;nbsp;(e.g., &amp;#8220;Fee collecting process has grown far more fractious.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;There are now law firms that specialize in disputing other firms&amp;#8217; bills&amp;#8212;and in-house nudniks who demand copious details and flyspeck them.&amp;#8221;)&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Ann Althouse also has strong feelings on the subject&lt;span style=&quot;COLOR: blue&quot;&gt;:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;font color=&quot;#000000&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&quot;How hateful to be embedded in a system that rewards inefficiency.&quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;It didn&amp;#8217;t have to be this way.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;As recently as 50 years ago, hourly billing was uncommon.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;COLOR: blue&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;Niki Kuckes, who, like Ann Althouse, left BigLaw for academia, wrote a terrific&amp;nbsp;potted history&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;of the billable hour for&lt;span style=&quot;COLOR: blue&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;Legal Affairs&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Kuckes accounts for the rise of the billable hours thus:&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 45pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;The answer begins with the corporatization of law practice.&amp;nbsp; As law firms expand or merge, they must search for measures to predict income, expenses, and budget.&amp;nbsp; Billable hours present a ready standard because they can easily be measured, compared, and reduced to &quot;realization rates&quot; (which compare hours worked with the fees collected on those hours).&amp;nbsp; They can be translated into precise expectations that can be used to guide lawyers&#39; performance.&amp;nbsp; It&#39;s no wonder, then, that attorneys complain of feeling like piecemeal workers in a factory.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;Some brave firms are tilting at the status quo.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Shepherd Law Group, a &lt;?xml:namespace prefix=&quot;st1&quot; ns=&quot;urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags&quot;?&gt;&lt;st1:place w:st=&quot;on&quot;&gt;&lt;st1:city w:st=&quot;on&quot;&gt;Boston&lt;/st1:city&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; employment boutique, has abandoned the billable system.&amp;nbsp; &amp;#8220;Hourly billing is wrong and anti-client,&amp;#8221; says firm founder &lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;Jay Shepherd&lt;/span&gt;.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Another labor &amp;amp; employment firm, Ford &amp;amp; Harrison, has decided to get rid of billable hour requirements altogether&amp;nbsp;for first-year associates.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;As the firm&amp;#8217;s managing partner, the awesomely named&amp;nbsp;Lash Harrison says, &quot;Everyone sits around and complains about the problems.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;I figured, what the heck, maybe we can try something.&quot;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Good luck Lash!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;FONT-SIZE: 10pt&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-tab-count: 9&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;- posted by brian&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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Kill Billables?

Law is unique: in no other profession, with the possible exception of the world’s oldest, does one get paid more for taking more time to perform a task. The billable hours system: it's hard to imagine an institution so entrenched and powerful and yet bereft of even apologists, not to even speak of defenders or advocates.

Kill Billables? | Career Advice - Vault

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