Good lawyers can be bad listeners when it comes to legal fees. Under ever-increasing pressure to fold more efficiency into the hiring and use of outside law firms, General Counsel are looking for alternatives to a running meter, which counter-incentivizes what clients want most – fast, cost-effective results. Did I mention fast? The best and most flexible law firms and lawyers are the ones who are responsive to that.
I’ve handled all kinds of cases, including litigation, under alternative fee arrangements (AFA’s) for years. Generally, however, they have been arrangements lawyers have designed and my clients have haltingly approved, or reluctantly agreed to try. But even that model – the lawyer proposing to the client, amidst the ever – increasing speed of the rate of change in the hiring and use of outside legal counsel, may not be adequate responsiveness to a client’s needs.
What would the ideal fee arrangement be for an insurer’s in-house legal department to have an outside lawyer perform a coverage opinion? Handle a bad faith case? Perform a claims file review to do some bad faith preventative maintenance? What would that look like to General Counsel’s Office?
GC’s and in-house lawyers, what is the best outside counsel fee arrangement for your company ? That is the question to be asking, and good outside lawyers and law firms will be very interested in the answer. Email us at chaddick@dmclaw.com and describe YOUR ideal fee arrangement. None of the responses will be shared unless you would like us to do so.
Looking for ideas on AFA’s? Stay tuned for the posting of our AFA Resource Page, discussing any number of AFA options for both litigated and non litigated matters. The options are virtually limitless. These options can serve either as a pre-packaged deliverable fee arrangement, or a jumping off point to tailor an arrangement to meet your needs.
Best,
CJH
badfaithadvisor.com 
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