In this week's episode of Legal Speak, we're focused on a facet of Big Law business that few firms want to acknowledge: discounts and write-downs.

Those reductions to the sticker price of legal services—whether taken off at the outset of an engagement or when it comes time for lawyers to collect the bill—end up costing Am Law 100 firms some $4.4 billion per year.

In this podcast, The American Lawyer editor-in-chief Gina Passarella talks with reporter Roy Strom about the growing demand from clients for discounts and write-offs and the tension it's creating between in-house departments and outside counsel.

Passarella and Strom's conversation is in conjunction with The American Lawyer's release of this year's Am Law 100 report, which shows that despite all those reductions to billable hours, revenue among Am Law 100 firms grew at a robust 8 percent clip.

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