Primary Research Group has published Survey of Law Firm Policies on Alternative Pricing of Legal Services, ISBN 978-1-57440-275-9.

The 80-page study presents the results of a survey of 35 (mostly larger) law firms from the USA, the UK and Canada with a mean of 63 law partners. They present their opinions on dealing with corporate cost control pressures, holdback arrangements, discounts for pre-paid services, fixed or capped fee arrangements and other forms of alternative pricing of legal services.

The report gives highly detailed and precise data enabling firms to answer questions such as: what percentage of firm revenues derive from specific forms of alternative pricing? How fast is alternative pricing spreading? What percentage of firms practice or consider practicing certain alternative pricing models? How have firms altered their manpower deployment practices in response to pressure to lower costs. What percentage of clients have proposed non-traditional pricing structures?

Data is broken out by size of firm (less than 5 partners, 5-19 partners, 20 to 100 partners and 100+ partners, with a mean of 265 in this group) by the type of client that accounts for most firm revenue (individuals, small & medium size businesses, major corporations) and by other useful criteria. Just a few of the report's many findings are that:

• 14.71% of the organizations sampled have used holdback arrangements through which clients without a pre-defined percentage of fees and then pay this percentage, or not, according to their level of satisfaction with how a legal matter is concluded
• 29.33% of clients of law firms whose main revenue source was major companies with annual revenues of more than $250 million had proposed non-traditional pricing models
• Firms that work predominantly for small business and individuals also garnered nearly 40% of revenue from fixed or capped fee arrangements

The study is available directly from Primary Research Group and also from major distributors of books and research reports. Print and PDF versions are available for $139.00. Site licenses are also available. For a table of contents, free excerpt, list of survey participants and the questionnaire, or to place an order, visit our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com.