Ask a lawyer what her hourly rate is and she’ll probably give a dollar figure. Ask a client about his lawyer’s hourly rate, and one may get a scowl. In fact, if one asks a client to describe his biggest complaint about his lawyer, one shouldn’t be surprised if he says it’s that hourly rate that is presumptively too high.
The imminent demise of the billable hour has been confidently predicted for years, maybe now more than ever. And yet, like Rasputin, no matter whether one tries to stab it, shoot it or poison it, the billable hour somehow manages to survive. The hourly rate — at least until it finally dies — is one of the knottiest aspects of the relationship between lawyers and their clients. The hourly rate problem can become a trap.
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