Canadians Not Wild About Billable Hours, Either

Another great post from Jay Shepherd about an article by John Intini in the Canadian magazine Maclean's, which Jay describes as the Time or Newsweek of the "Great White North"(where have you gone, Rick Moranis?). Jay was interviewed for the article and is featured prominently in it.

From my perspective, the article does not cover any new ground, but it is a good overview of the issue of billable hours v. alternative fees. As Jay notes, it does have some good, pithy quotes from some professors and consultants on how quickly the major U.S. and Canadian law firms are moving to embrace alternative fees (e.g., "Global warming is faster.").

To me the most significant thing about the article is that it is in a mass circulation Canadian publication. That fact, plus the U.K. survey discussed in the previous post, proves to me that lawyers and clients in the British Commonwealth countries are just as dissatisfied with billing by the hour as are many lawyers and clients in the U.S.

On a personal note, thanks to Jay for mentioning this blog in his post.