The billable hour can be a harsh mistress. But in a lot of Biglaw firms, it is the primary mechanism by which associates are able to gauge their performance. Many firm have hours thresholds that need to be met in order to qualify for an annual bonus, and high-billing associates are generally regarded as go-getting, rising stars at the firm.
Of course, there are lots of problems with that model. It certainly isn’t one that encourages efficiencies and clients have taken issue with that fact. Now one Biglaw firm has a plan in the works to put an end to the tyranny of the billable hour.
Clifford Chance has announced a pilot program that will judge the performance of associates on a combination of knowledge, thought leadership, innovation, pro bono work, and business development. The year-long program is being launched in the firm’s Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices. Associates in those offices will still diary their time, which will give the firm valuable comparative data and create client time sheets as needed.
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Caroline Firstbrook, chief operating officer of the firm, said of the program:
“While utilization is widely used as a core metric across the industry, it has a number of broadly acknowledged limitations, most notably that it does not directly incentivize efficiency or contributions to nonbillable work that may be invaluable to the firm’s overall strategy and to the continued development of exceptional client service.
“By running a pilot on this scale, with a large number of data points, associate input and partner and management feedback, we expect to be in a position to draw informed conclusions on the way ahead for the firm. The Middle East partners and leadership team are taking a bold and exciting step here that will provide insights into these questions that have simply not been available to us before now.”
Hopefully the program will only grow.
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).