Do You Value What I Do?

Let's flip to the other side of "What Would You Pay For That?"  What would you pay to have your attorney guide you through the Trenches, and provide advice and counsel?  Really think about it.  I hate the billable hour.  I don't think that's a surprise to anyone reading this blog.  I hate it for a lot of reasons, all of them to do with helping my clients.  I know my clients pause before calling me with information or to ask advice, because it costs them to call me.  As a result, I sometimes don't have all the information I need or my clients do something really stupid because they didn't tell me first so I could advise them it was a bad idea.  There are times when I pause before doing something for a client, not anything case threatening, but still, I pause because I know it will cost the client money, and I know their financial situation better than anyone.  I feel guilty working slowly, yet there are times when I must. Sitting and just thinking about a case comes with a timer and a price tag.  That's how the billable hour works.   I've hated it for a long time.

I want to move away from the billable hour, not to a place where I simply quantify the hours I think I will spend on a case and multiply it by my hourly rate to come up with a price.  I don't want to go to a place where my work is commoditized and a letter costs $X and a pleading costs $y.  I dream of a world where I talk deeply with my client about their case, what it will entail, about it's strengths and weaknesses, and arrive at a price that reflects the value of my services to them.   Then, I can handle the case the way I want it to be handled, knowing fear of incurring cost is gone.  How much better would that be for everyone?  I think it would be fantastic.  I've done a lot of reading, and I think it can be done.  What's the problem?

I'm scared.  My clients are people with limited resources.  What if they can't afford me?  How do I help them understand the value of what I provide?  What if they don't value what I do?  What if we agree on a value and they abuse it?  What if they call my office a million times a day?  What if they monopolize all my time?  How do I handle that?  Then I think, I've looked at the books.  I've reviewed the cost of my individual cases.  I know that if I told some of these people what their cases would end up costing (and I am by no means the most expensive lawyer in the Trenches), they would never have believed me.  Yet, these people with limited means have found the way to pay my bill.  What if they knew up front how much it would cost?  Wouldn't it be great to be able to budget for that?  Do people really want that?  I think they do.  As a matter of fact, a returning client called just as I was beginning to mull actually implementing a fixed fee or value based pricing.  We asked how he would feel if we told him the cost would be a set amount (and it was not a small amount)?  He thought it would be great.  That's right, great.  He said he could budget.  He could weigh if the fight was worth the cost.  He'll be back.  He told me so, and we'll discuss value.

What do you think?  I really want to know.  Here in the Trenches.