Cracking the pricing formula

H

ello, and welcome back after a long interval and a hopefully restful festive break. It’s been a few months since the last Briefing landed, with enough time to recharge and plan for a productive 2023.

It must be admitted, however, that we’ve seen a fair few challenges over the last couple of months, with a slew of strikes and various other disruptions making for a trying time in the world of work, testing businesses’ resilience. Fortunate then that most law firms have now truly switched on to the advantages of hybrid working.

The benefits of working flexibly are certainly on the mind of at least one in-house general counsel. Learn more about the significance of agility for clients in our profile interview with James Peirson at Virgin Money.

Law firms seem primed in 2023 to find ways of ensuring they resource, budget and bill more effectively. Hence the main thrust of our cover story this month, for which Josh Adcock speaks to several legal experts from across functions and disciplines, in an attempt to learn whether there’s still value in measuring and billing by time or if alternatives are gaining ground. While the conclusions were mixed, it seems there’s plenty of scope yet for firms to explore, and the expectations of clients are also still highly varied.

Of course, we have plenty more in store this issue, including a look at the design-thinking inspired innovation process at Cripps, and thoughts on the future of legal tech from Martin Stockdale at Kennedys. That’s alongside more comment and insight on alternative pricing from experts at Norton Rose Fulbright, Katchr and LexisNexis, predictions of what 2023 holds from Pinsent Masons Vario and NetDocuments, and strategies for cashflow management from Legl and Aderant.

We also have a couple of pieces on choosing the right software type, with Thomson Reuters looking at software-as-a-service and Fulcrum GT guiding us through enterprise software platforms.

Not to forget BigHand’s thoughts on providing clients with financial updates, and a brace of articles from iManage, exploring the rise of the machines and their impact on knowledge management, and the trouble with taxonomies.

• Get Briefing February 2023 via our app on Android
• Get Briefing February 2023 via our app on iOS
• Read Briefing February 2023 on your web browser

START OF THE PRICE AGE?

The debate around measuring the value of legal services has raged for many years – with the billable hour slowly giving ground to ‘alternatives’. Josh Adcock speaks to a range of legal leaders to discover the must-have ingredients for a mutually beneficial pricing strategy.

TACKLING THE TAXING TASK OF TAXONOMIES

The need for a structured approach to data and knowledge sharing is only ramping up, but law firms are often ill-equipped to consider how current and future knowledge might be organised. Jack Shepherd at iManage explores efficient ways law firms can design effective taxonomy solutions.

SPARKING CHANGE

The path to creating meaningful change in law firms is through employee engagement and client participation according to Cripps’ innovation manager Rob Tyler, who explains how the firm has drawn on design thinking methodology to support its change programme, Spark.