Johnson Controls GC: AFAs Are Overrated

It’s no secret that corporate clients aren’t big fans of the billable hour. On the surface, lawyers are simply paid for their time, like many other professionals, but in practice the billable hour system can create incentives for law firms to as inefficiently as the client will tolerate.

Large companies used to delivering goods and services for a set price often have the same question: Why can’t firms be more like corporations?

One obvious and increasingly popular answer has been to fix, or at least limit, a law firm’s bill for a particular matter in an alternative fee arrangement. According to Altman ...