The pricing of legal services is no longer simply about setting rates. Properly optimizing a firm’s pricing strategy is a critical source of competitive advantage and increased profitability, which now more than ever is crucial to staying relevant in the legal sector.

Firms must start looking to demonstrate their ability to provide clients with greater value through alternative fee arrangements, effectively controlled budgeting methods, and the integration of innovative firm management practices – whilst continuing to operate as a profitable business. Standard business principles have become the norm for firms – as clients become increasingly proficient in negotiating costs and defining the scope of engagement, service delivery must now be framed by value, expertise, and profitability rather than hours billed alone.

With contributions from pricing directors and expert consultants, Practical Innovations in Legal Pricing offers insight into newest effective approaches to pricing that top firms are undertaking. Taking an in-depth look at the role of shadow-billing and client collaboration in AFAs, integrating a firm’s legal project management and pricing functions for greater client benefits, and effectively executing a newly formed pricing strategy, this title will provide a comprehensive overview of the best practices in innovative pricing functions.

Contents

Executive summary

About the authors

Chapter 1: The roles and responsibilities of the pricing director

•     The fee conversation role
•     The budget building role
•     The profi t modeling role
•     The counseling role
•     The approval role
•     The biggest caution – Client expectation setting
•     The knowledge role
•     So many roles

Chapter 2: Executing on a pricing strategy – Critical challenges and lessons learned

•     Policies don’t get the job done
•     Effective pricing requires making an organizational commitment
•     How do we mature our pricing effectiveness?

Chapter 3: Pricing and salivating dogs

•     Rewarding poor behavior
•     Getting the right behavior
•     Re-engineering the meritocracy structure

Chapter 4: It’s all about expertise and outcomes 31

•     Why outcomes matter
•     Knowing what to do
•     Litigation
•     Workplace disputes and compliance
•     Mergers and other corporate transactions
•     Corporate housekeeping
•     Regulatory compliance
•     Unexpected opportunities
•     Ask the client
•     Run parallel systems

Chapter 5: Designing an objective-oriented fee arrangement

•     Before designing the fee arrangement
•     Designing the fee arrangement
•     Law department perspective
•     Law fi rm perspective

Chapter 6: Integration of the pricing and LPM functions 47

•     Objectives
•     Sequencing of steps
•     Differences and synergies
•     Integrating pricing and LPM

Chapter 7: Pricing legal work is a two-way street

•     Market disruptions drive change… sometimes
•     Lower cost ineffi ciency is still ineffi ciency
•     What we really need is continuous improvement
•     Collaborative pricing
•     Getting there from here
•     Next steps for law departments
•     Next steps for law firms

Chapter 8: Innovative pricing – The gap between clients’ expectations and law fi rms’ delivery

•     Innovative pricing approaches
•     What is innovation?
•     What does constitute innovative pricing and how do we achieve it?
•     Solutions
•     Scoping work
•     Where next for innovative client relationships

Chapter 9: Componentized budgets for cost benefit analysis

•     What is componentized pricing?
•     Collecting componentized data
•     Using componentized data

Chapter 10: Neurogenetics of pricing – Why fee discounts destroy client loyalty

•     Decision-making process
•     Role of relationships
•     Power of attachment
•     Discounting attachment
•     Neurogenetics of value
•     Neurogenetics purchase
•     Creating valuable client relationships

Price: £249
ISBN: 978-1-78358-292-1
Format: Paperback