For some 40 years, corporate lawyers could be hired one way — by the hour. They doled out their working lives in six-minute increments. Oh, industry visionaries nattered on about “alternative billing arrangements.” Law­yers mostly nodded and went back to their time sheets.

Until this past decade. Bookended by major recessions — i.e., periods when potential clients push to cut costs — this decade looks to be the one in which alternate fee structures finally took root, even in Am Law 100 firms.