Large Florida firms are adopting alternative fee agreements less than half as often as Am Law 100 firms nationwide, according to a Wells Fargo survey.

At Florida-headquartered Am Law and midsize firms, just 6.6 percent of billable hours logged were billed on an alternative fee basis in 2016, the survey found. In 2015, that number was 5 percent.

In contrast, Am Law 100 firms applied alternative fee agreements in 13.5 percent of all billed hours in 2016, compared with 12.6 percent of their billable hours in 2015.

The 12 Florida firms included in the Wells Fargo survey, which was published earlier this year, include almost all of the Am Law firms headquartered in Florida and some midsize regional firms.

“Regional firms don't have the staff to manage alternative fees as well, so it tends to be more of a defensive move in terms of pricing,” said Jeff Grossman, managing director of Wells Fargo Legal Specialty Group in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Am Law 200 and regional firms also offer fewer alternative fee arrangements because they traditionally have lower rates and therefore have less need to offer alternatives than in some other areas of the country, Grossman said. In addition, regional firms have less attorney leverage, as they have more partners and fewer associates or staff attorneys. Therefore, it is tougher to manage alternative fees in a way that is beneficial to both firm and client, he said.

Legal industry experts say this trend is not likely to last, however.

“The clients in Florida haven't started to apply as much pressure as you see in the Chicago and Northeast markets. But it's coming — it's inevitable,” said Joe Ankus, president of legal recruiting firm Ankus Consulting. “Alternative fee structures is the natural evolution of the commoditization of the law.”

In fact, Bowman Brown, chairman of the executive committee at Florida-based Shutts & Bowen, said anecdotal evidence suggests that more of Florida's legal work is being done under alternative fee structures than the survey suggests.

“We're seeing an increase in requests for alternative fee structures,” Brown said. “We're open to working alt fee structures out with our clients.”

Citi Private Bank's law firm group has been surveying 50 of the largest firms in the U.S. and abroad for several years and found that alternative fee agreements, not including pre-negotiated fee discounts, have remained static during that time. This is the case even though alternative fee arrangements have become more of a focus within the industry.

Gretta Rusanow, head of advisory services for Citi Private Bank's Law Firm Group, said this summer those 50 big firms reported 15.3 percent of their total revenue for 2016 had come from alternative fee arrangements. Nearly 70 percent of firms reported that they expected to increase use of alternative fee arrangements in 2017. On average, the firms projected that 15.9 percent of revenue would come from alternative fee arrangements.

While only a minority of firms report that alternative fee agreements are helping their bottom line, the percentage is up slightly compared to a few years ago.

“Most say that it is not having a positive effect on their margins,” Rusanow said. “The ones that do say it has been positive for their margins have had more experience with alternative fee arrangements and have been better at both budgeting and staffing.”