US lawyers are 'disillusioned by hourly billing'

Lawyers in the US are becoming demoralised and demotivated by the over-reliance on the hourly billing system, a report released at this year's American Bar Association annual conference has warned.

Unveiling the report from the ABA's commission on billable hours at the Washington DC gathering, outgoing ABA president Robert Hirshon maintained that a slavish adherence to the billable hour was causing many lawyers - especially younger practitioners - to desert pro bono projects and the profession generally.

He described the system as being 'fundamentally about quantity over quality, repetition over creativity'.

Mr Hirshon added: 'The elimination of discretionary time has taken a toll on pro bono work and our profession's ability to be involved in our communities.

Professional development, workplace stimulation, mentoring and lawyer/client relationships have all suffered as a result of billable hour pressures.'

Mr Hirshon blamed the increasing levels of law student debt as one of the main reasons the billable hour remained supreme.

He maintained that young lawyers are forced to work as many hours as possible to meet billing targets and so service their heavy debt burden, adding: 'The average law student today graduates from university with about $80,000 of debt.

When I graduated in 1972 I had between $2,000 to $3,000 of debt.

The high level of debt that is facing young lawyers is turning them away from working in areas of the profession which provide advice to those in poverty.'

The report's authors challenged the US legal profession 'to look at value over cost when determining fair payment for services rendered'.

The commission recommended several alternatives to the billable hour.

Its report included results of a survey that showed that 55% of respondents had used the fixed or flat fee method in the previous 12 months.

Other potential alternative were blended billing, which allows firms to bill at a set hourly rate regardless of the fee earner doing the work, and a greater use of contingency fees.

Mr Hirshon said 'the outright elimination of time billing is not a likely proposition'.

However, he said that research indicated that lawyers themselves were growing weary of the system.

He cited an American Lawyer survey from last year that reported half the respondents as saying they would accept large pay cuts to reduce their number of billable hours and increase their quality of life.

Jonathan Ames