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There is no requirement (as far as I am aware), only convention for charging in 1/10th hour increments. Filling out standard documents and such can (and often

by Alupis 3y ago

There is no requirement (as far as I am aware), only convention for charging in 1/10th hour increments. Filling out standard documents and such can (and often is) charged by the job. Some common case types even are billed by the job, instead of hourly. Majority of firms do not handle complex cases that require deep knowledge and skill. We can compare this to accounting automation, such as Intuit/Quickbooks. Are they for every business? No - but for a ton of standard businesses they are a perfect fit, and Intuit makes a ton of money in the process. This resistance to modernizing will kill some firms in the process.

torstenvl 3y ago
The requirement comes from the clients, not the lawyers. No sane person would ever opt in to having to account for every six-minute increment of their work day.
- Alupis 3y ago
  > The requirement comes from the clients, not the lawyers. So many standard things are handled with flat rates these days. You're not the first one needing to incorporate, or respond to an ADA complaint, etc. These are cookie-cutter things, and can be handled very quickly by the firm. So - accordingly - they charge a flat rate. You don't get a choice usually. Very few firms handle complex, specialized issues that require unknown amounts of time. Rate billing is for those situations. No client is demanding to be billed every 6 minutes, having no idea what the ordeal's cost will amount to. That is compelled by the firm, because of the unknowns involved.
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gnicholas 3y ago
You're right that most lawyers don't work in biglaw and handle complex matters. But if you're trying to sell tech to lawyers, you're going to think about whether you would be able to sell to biglaw lawyers, who would be the most lucrative customers. If you cannot, you might build the product anyway and try to sell downmarket. But many would be discouraged from trying to build the business at all, since so much of the profit would have come from the whales at the top of the market.

by Alupis 3y ago

torstenvl 3y ago

The requirement comes from the clients, not the lawyers. No sane person would ever opt in to having to account for every six-minute increment of their work day.

Alupis 3y ago
> The requirement comes from the clients, not the lawyers. So many standard things are handled with flat rates these days. You're not the first one needing to incorporate, or respond to an ADA complaint, etc. These are cookie-cutter things, and can be handled very quickly by the firm. So - accordingly - they charge a flat rate. You don't get a choice usually. Very few firms handle complex, specialized issues that require unknown amounts of time. Rate billing is for those situations. No client is demanding to be billed every 6 minutes, having no idea what the ordeal's cost will amount to. That is compelled by the firm, because of the unknowns involved.
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gnicholas 3y ago

You're right that most lawyers don't work in biglaw and handle complex matters. But if you're trying to sell tech to lawyers, you're going to think about whether you would be able to sell to biglaw lawyers, who would be the most lucrative customers. If you cannot, you might build the product anyway and try to sell downmarket. But many would be discouraged from trying to build the business at all, since so much of the profit would have come from the whales at the top of the market.