#readfirstlegal

๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ญ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ-๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐ฅ๐š๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐š๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐ [Australian] ๐ฅ๐š๐ฐ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฌ

As we start out on 2025, the ๐‘จ๐’–๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’‚๐’ ๐‘ญ๐’Š๐’๐’‚๐’๐’„๐’Š๐’‚๐’ ๐‘น๐’†๐’—๐’Š๐’†๐’˜ (AFR) has helpfully published a table today (14.01.2025) – ‘๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ญ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ-๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐ฅ๐š๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐š๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ฅ๐š๐ฐ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฌ’ – that makes for very interesting reading.

Other than the expected billable hour targets for first year lawyers and comments on alleged “under-billing” practices at major Australian law firms, what caught my attention in the article was this comment:

“๐˜–๐˜ฏ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ โ€“ ๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜“๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ โ€“ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜บ, ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜“๐˜ข๐˜ธ๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด.”

I might be wrong, but in the event that Hamilton Locke charges clients by the billable hour, then I highly suspect this also translates into a yearly hourly targetโ€ฆ

โ€ฆIn the event that HL charges clients fixed fees or some other type of fee arrangement, then I accept this calculation probably sets it apart.

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Where do AFAs rank in the cost savings pyramid?

If you have been wondering where Alternative Fee Arrangements (AFAs) sit on the ladder of cost-saving for in-house counsel, wonder no more. This post [By-the-Hour Billing Torments Legal Departments. So Why Arenโ€™t More Demanding Alternatives?] by Hugo Guzman on law.com yesterday (14/11/2023) will answer all your queries:

  • 66% of respondents said they plan to bring more work in-house as a cost-control strategy
  • 39% plan to shift work from big law firms to smaller ones,
  • 33% plan to leverage the use of technology and AI.

And, drum-roll

  • Expanding AFAs ranked fourth, at 28%.

Not sure how everyone else interprets that data, but it looks like a very sad state of affairs to me.

Feel free to reach out to me if you want to discuss what this might mean to your business or law firm.

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Who is sitting with you on your ‘Buddy Bench’?

Yesterday (13/11) was World Kindness Day, and while I think that’s a great idea/concept – with the level of mental health issues that we have in the legal profession, you have to ask yourself:

Why doesn’t every law firm office have one of these benches?

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