Billable hours. Inefficient service. Yearly increases in legal rates. The arguments between in-house legal departments and law firms over how best to pay for legal work has raged for decades. And even in these weak economic times, an American Lawyer survey of Am Law 200 managing partners found that 98 percent of participating firms plan to raise billing rates in 2009 (page 93). But one group of lawyers is determined to reshape the billing landscape. In September the Association of Corporate Counsel, which represents 24,000 in-house lawyers, launched the ACC Value Challenge. This novel initiative is bringing together law departments, law firms, and academics to analyze the problem and find ways to restructure the law firm-client relationship. ACC is offering programs, best practices, and electronic toolkits to spur the project. Susan Hackett, ACC’s general counsel, recently spoke with Sue Reisinger, a senior reporter at sibling publication Corporate Counsel, about how ACC hopes to convince legal departments and law firms that they are the change they’ve been waiting for. Here are excerpts from that interview.
Define value in the way you are using it.
