About My Post on the Company That Stopped Paying its Lawyers by the Hour: Any Size Business Can Benefit

In my most recent blog I recounted an interview with BASF Corporation’s General Counsel, Matt Lepore.

In that interview Mr. Lepore described how he went about ditching the arbitrary taxi meter of hourly billing.

And he described how he secured lower costs and client-friendly incentives through alternative fee arrangements.

I invite your attention again to his words — and I emphasize something that Mr. Lepore slipped in at the end of his interview:

“Whether you are Fortune 100, or a small start-up, if you have a legal need that requires outside counsel expertise, and you have some budget assigned to your department, you can use alternative billing. Maybe you won’t define value the same way that BASF, Microsoft, or GSK would, but you certainly don’t need to value the services you need based purely on an attorney’s hourly rate. And, in my view, you will not be getting the most efficient work product if you do.”

…

As its title states, this blog is about controlling corporate legal costs through effective management and (proactive) prevention of legal trouble.

And — as Mr. Lepore put it — these principles apply to all businesses: “Whether you are Fortune 100, or a small start-up ….”