Canadian Lawyer

20 A P R I L 2 0 1 9 w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m T he death knell of the billable hour still rings loudly, yet use of the tradi- tional billing method persistently resonates in law practices across the country, Canadian Lawyer's 2019 Legal Fees Survey reveals. The results of the survey strike an optimistic tone among lawyers and firms, none of whom anticipate a fee reduction, with nearly half expecting to introduce an increase in 2019. Most lawyers, by far, 88.56 per cent, continue to use the billable hour, although 62.71 per cent use flat rates and 33.56 per cent rely upon contingency fees, this year's survey has found. That's consistent with previous years. In the 2018 survey, 87 per cent of respondents indicated they still charged clients through an hourly rate, while 71 per cent indicated they charged flat fees. And in 2017, 87 per cent participating in the survey indicated that the billable hour still ruled. Although Crease Harman LLP in Victoria does employ a mix of billing arrange- ments with clients, the full-service law firm with 13 lawyers — which covers much of Vancouver Island — relies largely on the billable hour for both internal and external reasons, says managing partner Bruce Hallsor. "We're a pretty traditional firm; we go by the billable hour. For certain types of solicitors' work, there tends to be flat fees for wills or conveyances. . . . But for the most part, we stuck with the hourly rate. We found that, internally, it's a very good way of STEADY OPTIMISM Lawyers surveyed in Canadian Lawyer's 2019 Legal Fees Survey say fee reductions are unlikely By Marg. Bruineman L A W O F F I C E M A N A G E M E N T managing lawyer productivity, and we haven't had a lot of pushback from clients on it," he says. "Even when we do a different arrangement, we like to keep track, internally, of the hours put in on a file. We find it's a good management tool and it's fair." Hallsor sees it as a powerful way to manage a law firm and gauge the productivity of lawyers and help identify areas that are not as productive. Crease Harman will break down the rate, hours and how they are allocated when billing the client to provide a transparent process, although that might result in questions from clients. This year's online survey was conducted from Jan. 4 to 28 and included 336 responses. Of the respondents, 51.69 per cent indicated they worked in firms with four or fewer lawyers, 29.39 per cent in firms with five to 25 lawyers and 8.11 per cent worked with 26 to 50 lawyers. The largest group, 49.66 per cent, were from Ontario, followed by 17 per cent in both Alberta and Brit- ish Columbia, four per cent in Manitoba, 2.7 per cent in Nova Scotia, 4.73 per cent in Saskatch- ewan and fewer than two per cent were from New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Quebec. A combination of flat fees (62.87 per cent) and an hourly rate (88.61 per cent) are the most com- mon means used to charge clients for firms of all sizes, although blended hourly rates are used by 34.38 per cent of firms with more than 26 lawyers. Small firms with fewer than four lawyers

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