The 12-lawyer firm includes Cisco Systems amongst its clients. When billing clients, it puts in the ‘client  value adjustment’ line just above the amount for ‘total amount due’, enabling clients to reduce the bill if they feel they have not been given value for money.

Ultimate judge

The practice took the idea from another law firm, Valorem Law Group which is based in Chicago and San Jose. Valorem has included the option in its bills since 2008 and partner Patrick J Lamb says: ‘Some clients never comment on the VAL [Value Adjustment Line], but others take comfort in it even if they never use it. It reinforces their belief that we are committed to the value of the service we provide and that they are the ultimate judge of value, not us.’ 

Time upfront

Peter Carayiannis, president of Conduit Law, says that no client has yet used the option to cut a bill. He said: ‘We invest a lot of time upfront before taking on a client to understand the scope of work to be done. I don’t expect them to be making great changes to the bill because we do the hard work and heavy lifting in advance so our bills aren’t usually a surprise. Our collection rate is very close to 100 per cent.’ Source: Canadian Lawyer Magazine