Several law bloggers and business analysts have come out in support of a new mode of billing clients known as value bidding. Proponents of value billing say it's more fair and preferred by clients. Rather than billing a standard rate for billable hours, under the value billing system, clients pay more for positive outcomes and less for other results.



Supporters of the new system claim it is a more sound economic structure than the contingency fee system. Value billing has its detractors, however. David Gialcone of the law blog Formerly Known as F/K/A (http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/) claims the system will allow attorneys to bilk clients who don't understand how to assess the worth of a lawyer's service. Carolyn Elefant of Inside Opinions (http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/) finds the whole thing too complicated.





For now, the biggest advocate of value billing is Ronald J. Baker, who claims that 1/3 of small firms have already implemented the system.