Nigel Clark, director and shareholder at Nexa, a platform for consultant solicitors, proposes a change of approach on client fees, billing targets, the partnership model and long-hours culture, in this week’s NLJ
Could lawyers switch to a system where they’re paid by results or value-added—for example, ‘a corporate lawyer advising on the purchase of a business could be paid a percentage of the reduction in the price they are able to negotiate’? Clark warns that the lack of transparency in pricing can seem unfair.
Clark also considers how to respond to the gender pay gap and questions the value of the hierarchical partnership model—‘there is still a whiff of the Victorian mill owner around junior lawyers doing the work while partners share the profits.’
