An article quotes Susan Hackett, ACC’s general counsel, on “value-based” billing. Hackett says that “surveys show the average client laying out between 15% and 30% of their legal spending this way.” The Economist, July 24, 2010, at 72, does not elaborate, but I doubt very much that the figure is so high. Not if value-based billing excludes discounts.
If we had data from a representative sample of US legal departments, I would go all in that close to 90 percent of all fees paid by them to law firms are based on full or discounted hourly rates. Bills paid by law departments based on value delivered are rare exceptions that prove the rule.