For years I have urged law departments that negotiate fixed fees with a firm to insist on monthly bills nevertheless. The law department wants to be able to review staffing, the order of tasks undertaken, levels and composition of lawyers assigned, and other intelligence from invoices. Furthermore, when it comes time to renew the set-fee agreement or perhaps to choose another firm, the basic data of tasks, hours and staff provides a backbone of understanding. It is much easier to describe the potential workload when you have historical data.
A speaker on a recent panel jolted my self-satisfied belief. He said “If we still ask for hours, we’re still in that domain – drop hours and focus on value.” In other words, if you make the decision that a certain fee for certain work delivers appropriate value, then abandon the Tayloristic approach of time records and minutiae. Value is value, not hours.
A good point, but not good enough. You need to have a grasp on what was done and by whom so that you can review and report on activities accomplished and so that you can extend such an arrangement based on credible descriptive metrics.