Comments on: Our Investment in Brightleaf http://www.foundrygroup.com/wp/2009/01/our-investment-in-firstdocs/ Foundry Group Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:18:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Brad Feld http://www.foundrygroup.com/wp/2009/01/our-investment-in-firstdocs/comment-page-1/#comment-17323 Brad Feld Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:00:39 +0000 http://test.foundrygroup.com/wp/?p=33#comment-17323 I remember Andrew well - I crawled around under his desk fixing his computer many times. Regarding billing rates, here's a reference from > $1000 / hour billing rates from the one and only law.com <a href="http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202426547201" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=12024265472...</a> I remember Andrew well – I crawled around under his desk fixing his computer many times.

Regarding billing rates, here's a reference from > $1000 / hour billing rates from the one and only law.com

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=12024265472…

]]> By: James Mitchell http://www.foundrygroup.com/wp/2009/01/our-investment-in-firstdocs/comment-page-1/#comment-17322 James Mitchell Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:29:26 +0000 http://test.foundrygroup.com/wp/?p=33#comment-17322 Brad Feld -- This is very interesting. As you may recall, about 15 years ago I became very interested in how legal documents are produced and managed. I was amazed at how little thought law firms paid to a process that consumes so much time. Your company might want to speak with Andrew Menard. I don't know if you remember him, but he worked with Susan Pravda and Gabor Garai. He was thinking about this a long time ago. I think the quote about lawyers billing above $1200 is simply inaccurate. There was a recent article in a major publication about lawyers passing the $1000 an hour mark, and almost every law firm said that was a psychological barrier they were not willing to cross. The reality is that superstars such as Marty Lipton or Harvey Miller increase their de facto billing rate by insisting that clients purchase time from other lawyers in the firm. So you pay $950 for the superstar but are forced to buy Associate time at $250 an hour, even thought many of them should be billed out at close to the minimum. But on paper, you are paying $950 an hour for the superstar. As far as I know, no lawyer has an actual billing rate of $1200 or more. James Mitchell jmitchell@kensingtonllcc.om Brad Feld –

This is very interesting. As you may recall, about 15 years ago I became very interested in how legal documents are produced and managed. I was amazed at how little thought law firms paid to a process that consumes so much time.

Your company might want to speak with Andrew Menard. I don't know if you remember him, but he worked with Susan Pravda and Gabor Garai. He was thinking about this a long time ago.

I think the quote about lawyers billing above $1200 is simply inaccurate. There was a recent article in a major publication about lawyers passing the $1000 an hour mark, and almost every law firm said that was a psychological barrier they were not willing to cross. The reality is that superstars such as Marty Lipton or Harvey Miller increase their de facto billing rate by insisting that clients purchase time from other lawyers in the firm. So you pay $950 for the superstar but are forced to buy Associate time at $250 an hour, even thought many of them should be billed out at close to the minimum. But on paper, you are paying $950 an hour for the superstar. As far as I know, no lawyer has an actual billing rate of $1200 or more.

James Mitchell
jmitchell@kensingtonllcc.om

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