Inadmissible

Last week, Baker Botts laid off lawyers for economic reasons, says firm spokesman Mike Cinelli, although the Houston-based firm declined to disclose numbers or further details. The layoffs, Cinelli says, are an attempt by firm management to have “supply meet demand” and are the result of market conditions and the lack of attrition this year. “It was a difficult decision,” Cinelli says. He stresses that recent law school graduates who were promised associate positions at Baker Botts starting in November will still be hired. “We made that commitment, and we felt we had to honor it,” Cinelli says. Last March, Baker Botts laid off lawyers and staff members, also due to a reduced demand for client services. In January, Baker Botts had 825 lawyers firmwide, 554 of those in Texas. In May, Baker Botts had 766 lawyers firmwide, 505 of those in Texas. Texas Lawyer reported that in 2008, gross revenue at Baker Botts totaled $613.3 million and profits per partner were $1,365,000. [See "Despite Economy, Ike, BigTex Revenue Rose in '08," Texas Lawyer, April 29, 2009, page 18.]

Open to Alternatives

All practice group leaders at Dallas-based Winstead started offering alternative pricing arrangements to their clients last month. From tax to intellectual property, shareholders have been speaking with clients to see if they can come up with a better arrangement that makes the client even happier. Tom Helfand , a shareholder in Winstead’s Dallas office, says he thinks firms have always, reluctantly, been “willing to do something beyond standard fees and hours. But what’s different is we’re more willing to talk to the client.” Helfand chaired the firm’s alternative pricing task force, which looked at ways to keep clients satisfied during the down economy. Billing discussions always are “part of [the] client relationship. And what we’re doing matches what they want . . . and it maybe allows us to move into an area and do work that we might not have done before for a client,” he says. Shareholder Stan Moore , who heads the firm’s intellectual property practice group, recently switched a client to a nonhourly fee rate for a large project in which the firm will prosecute more than 100 patents. The client will pay the firm incrementally as portions of the project are completed instead of on an hourly basis. The plan ultimately will be less expensive for the client and will promote efficiency by the firm’s lawyers, he says. “If we’re more effective in our efforts, it takes fewer hours invested in the projects,” Moore says.

Federal Judge Threatened