Law firms and inhouse teams have to be comfortable with change, setting the tone at the top of both organisations if they are to successfully transfer from traditional hourly billing rates to alternative fee arrangements, according to Dennis Garcia, assistant general counsel of Microsoft Corporation. Writing for Bloomberg Law, his top tips for changing to fixed fees includes identifying the types of work suitable for AFAs. He also advocates hiring a data scientist to analyse and leverage data to ensure inhouse legal teams carefully identify the value they are seeking from law firms under the AFA - from key performance indicators (KPIs) such as speed of service to accuracy. Professionals skilled in pricing and project management should also be brought on board, Mr Garcia adds. Furthermore, he says that technology should also be used to facilite AFAs and feedback needs to be actively provided. Source: Bloomberg Law