Microsoft Announces Plans to Nearly Phase Out Billable Hour

Microsoft has quietly unveiled new parameters for its outside counsel, and, in an effort to step away from the billable hour, announced it hopes to shift 90 percent of its legal work into alternative fee arrangements within two years.

David Howard, a corporate vice president and deputy general counsel at the company,wrote online Friday that Microsoft wants to establish a “new type of relationship” with the law firms handling its most important work.

During the past year, Microsoft has been re-evaluating how it works with law firms, Howard wrote. It made several key decisions in the process, including to ...