DECEmBEr 2014
30
INHOUSE
T
he momentum has been growing slowly
for years but it seems in-house counsel
are ready and want to trade in the billable
hour model for something more pro-
gressive. Responses to the 2014 Canadian
Lawyer Corporate Counsel Survey indi-
cate there is a growing interest within
the in-house bar to changing the conversation when it comes to
negotiating billing options with external law firms.
While the billable hour is still No. 1, there was a consider-
able drop from last year to 47.3 per cent who cite the billable
hour as their primary arrangement, compared to 55.2 per cent
last year. "Absolutely, I agree the billable hour is still No.1," says
Peter Gutelius, assistant general counsel at RBC. "We're all still
working hard to move away from it but it's been around for a
long time and covers a large industry and takes a while to move
away from it."
This year more than 320 law department leaders from Cana-
dian corporations and government participated in the Canadian
Lawyer survey. The balance of respondents indicated they use a
combination of billable hours plus flat fees (30.5 per cent), alter-
native fee arrangement (7 per cent), flat fees (4.4 per cent), RFP
process on large projects (4.4 per cent), and "other" (6.2 per cent).
Many said they have "billable hours, RFPs, and flat fee" arrange-
ments in "varying measures."
When asked what measures they put in place in the last year to
manage costs, 42.9 per cent said they brought more work inside
with 28.3 per cent indicating they came to a new fee arrangement
with their outside counsel.
seekINg
The annual Canadian Lawyer Corporate
Counsel Survey shows in-house counsel
have an open mind to alternative
fee arrangements, but do they really
know how to get better value?
BY JENNIFEr BrOWN
alternative
arrangements
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