The Australian legal industry is currently under intense scrutiny, not least because of the level of demand for legal services and the often prohibitive cost of accessing justice. The Productivity Commission has embarked on a 15-month public inquiry to better understand how the industry can reform legal operations to help improve clients experience and constrain costs.
In June 2014, Roger Quick, Senior Costs Consultant at QICS Brisbane and a Senior Advisor with AFEEA Pty Ltd, provided his views to the Commission on legal costing, and discussed law firm billing methods that are likely to lead to greater access to justice and better costs management.
The following whitepaper collates Quick’s thoughts on law firm billing and the current view of commercial legal services in the Australian market, in terms of possible market trends.
Table of contents:
- Market trends
- Emerging market issues
- 2013 BigLaw vs NewLaw
- The business models of BigLaw and NewLaw
- Alternative business models
- What is causing the present chaos?
- How will changes play out?
- What will be the pace of these changes?
- Non government or corporate firm changes
- Reflection on the ethics of innovation and fixed-fees
Related resource: read Roger’s interview with the Legal Insight team, Legal Project Management: Flying Forward.
