Below is a listing of the law firms that provided information about the alternative billing methods that they use most often.
We asked firms to differentiate between variations on the traditional billable hour (discounted and blended hourly rates, for example) and true alternatives to the billable hour (such as fixed or flat fees, contingency fees, hybrid fees and retrospective fees based on value).
The percentages given below denote the estimated portions of the firms’ revenues obtained through each of these two categories.
The percentages are followed by the billing methods that the firms reported using within the two categories. The number given after each firm’s name indicates its total number of attorneys.
The firms provided the information in response to The National Law Journal’s 2008 survey of the nation’s 250 largest law firms. This list includes firms that were not among the NLJ 250.
The 2008 NLJ Billing Survey is available in downloadable Excel format from ALM Research.
Akerman Senterfitt (484). Variations: 90% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 10% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Andrews Kurth (407). Variations: 15% — discounted rate, blended rate, other. Alternatives: 15% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, other.
Armstrong Teasdale (252). Variations: 14% — discounted rate, blended rate, other. Alternatives: 14% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz (549). Variations: 50% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 10% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Best Best & Krieger (198). Variations: 5% — blended rate. Alternatives: 5% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, other.
Bond, Schoeneck & King (189). Variations: 4% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 5% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Bradley Arant Rose & White (255). Variations: 25% — discounted rate, blended rate, other. Alternatives: 20% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value, other.
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck (235). Variations: 15% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 20% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, other.
Burr & Forman (208). Variations: 35% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 6% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Butzel Long (243). Variations: 10% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 10% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle (235). Variations: 10% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 5% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Day Pitney (405). Variations: 83% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 17% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, other.
Dorsey & Whitney (670). Variations: 5% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 5% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge (576). Variations: 10% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 3% — fixed or flat fee, hybrid fee.
Gardere Wynne Sewell (281). Variations: 5% — discounted rate, blended rate, other. Alternatives: 18% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Gibbons (230). Variations: 30% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 1% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Hodgson Russ (227). Variations: 25% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 5% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Holland & Hart (406). Variations: 28% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 33% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Holme Roberts & Owen (228). Variations: 15% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 15% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn (234). Variations: 3% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 1% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Husch Blackwell Sanders (629). Variations: 98% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 2% — fixed or flat fee, hybrid fee, contingency fee.
Jackson Lewis (517). Variations: 20% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alter- natives: 20% — fixed or flat fee, hybrid fee.
Jenner & Block (482). Variations: 49% — discounted rate, blended rate, other. Alternatives: 11% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère & Denègre (264). Variations: 25% — discounted rate, blended rate, other. Alternatives: 1% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Kilpatrick Stockton (466). Variations: 3% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 3% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear (249). Variations: 15% — discounted rate. Alternatives: 15% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee.
Lane Powell (170). Variations: 45% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 3% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Leonard, Street and Deinard (189). Variations: 5% — blended rate. Alternatives: 5% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value, other.
Lewis, Rice & Fingersh (164). Variations: 35% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 35% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell (707). Variations: 80% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 20% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee.
Loeb & Loeb (310). Variations: 20% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 15% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps (187). Variations: 10% — discounted rate, blended rate, other. Alternatives: 5% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin (408). Variations: 20% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 12% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter (232). Variations: 5% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 12% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee.
McGuireWoods (880). Variations: 80% — discounted rate, blended rate, other. Alternatives: 20% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, other.
McKenna Long & Aldridge (435). Variations: 30% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 30% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Michael Best & Friedrich (229). Variations: 10% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 12% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Miller & Martin (198). Variations 5% — blended rate. Alternatives: 10% — contingency fee, other.
Nixon Peabody (699). Variations: 70% — discounted rate, blended rate, other. Alternatives: 10% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, other.
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart (428). Variations: 92% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 5.6% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Patton Boggs (529). Variations: 15% — discounted rate. Alternatives: 6.5% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee.
Pepper Hamilton (514). Variations: 5% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 2% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee.
Phelps Dunbar (258). Variations: 8% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 8% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee.
Phillips Lytle (179). Variations: 90% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 10% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus (304). Variations: 10% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 10% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value, other.
Reed Smith (1,558*). Variations: 18% — discounted rate, blended rate, other. Alternatives: 5.8% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value, other.
(*National Association for Law Placement figure. After the deadline for reporting data for the NLJ 250, the firm reported that its attorney count was 1,505.)
Saul Ewing (231). Variations: 57% — discounted rate, blended rate, other. Alternatives: 10% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis (189). Variations 4.8% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 1.7% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee.
Schulte Roth & Zabel (481). Variations: 5% — discounted rate. Alternatives: 5% — fixed or flat fee.
Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold (380). Variations: 64% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 0.8% — fixed or flat fee.
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton (458). Variations: 3% — discounted rate, blended rate, other. Alternatives: 2% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Shughart Thomson & Kilroy (179). Variations: 27% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 15% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick (180). Variations: 10% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 5% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Shutts & Bowen (203). Variations: 2% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 1% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee.
Smith, Gambrell & Russell (181). Variations: 10% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 10% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value.
Snell & Wilmer (440). Variations: 20% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 20% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Stevens & Lee (193). Variations: 20% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 22% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee, retrospective fee based on value, other.
Strasburger & Price (194). Variations: 85% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 15% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Sullivan & Worcester (182). Variations: 10% — discounted rate, blended rate, other. Alternatives: 2% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Thompson & Knight (458). Variations: 30% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 3% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee.
Troutman Sanders (683). Variations: 20% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 10% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Ulmer Berne (176). Variations: 40% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 5% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Vedder Price (265). Variations: 10% — Discounted rate. Alternatives: 5% — fixed or flat fee.
Wiley Rein (262). Variations: 20% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 5% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Winstead (281). Variations: 3% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 3% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice (505). Variations: 25% — discounted rate, blended rate. Alternatives: 5% — fixed or flat fee, contingency fee, hybrid fee.
