The number of outside counsel guidelines that attorneys and administrators at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have to juggle is striking. In total, the firm is sitting on approximately 1,000 documents, after receiving, in 2019 alone, roughly 260 new retainer agreements or updates to existing guidelines that stipulate what clients expect from the attorneys they are hiring. 

Wilmer isn’t the only law firm dealing with heightened standards from corporate clients about what they’ll pay for and what they won’t. A recent study from timekeeping technology company Bellefield and the Association of Legal Administrators estimated the cost of compliance with these guidelines at nearly $4 million annually for some firms.