Pros and Cons of Alternative Billing Arrangements in IP Litigation, from the Celesq-West IP Series for Corporate Counsel

Pundits have predicted the death of the billable hour for years, but with little change in the competitive landscape. However, the ongoing recession and resistance to increased rates from clients has pushed many firms to begin experimenting with alternative billing systems to maximize value—for both the firm and the client. How do these systems work, when should corporate counsel consider them, and how can they be positive for both law firms and their clients? Topics to be discussed will include:

·         Types of Alternative Billing Arrangements

·         When Alternative Billing Should (and Should Not) Be Considered

·         How Alternative Arrangements Can Work in Practice for Corporate Counsel

·         When the Billable Hour Makes Sense

Blair M. Jacobs, Esq. is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, based in its Washington, D.C. office. A member of the Intellectual Property, Media & Technology Department, he focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation and related antitrust disputes before federal district courts, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and the International Trade Commission. Mr. Jacobs, who previously served as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice and at the White House, where he worked for the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, lectures and writes on various topics including trial tactics and trial advocacy, patent litigation strategies and issues associated with electronic discovery. He teaches trial advocacy at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and served on the faculty of the Attorney General's Advocacy Institute while at the Department of Justice.

Christopher L. May, Esq. is an associate in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, based in its Washington, D.C. office. A member of the Intellectual Property, Media & Technology Department, he focuses his practice on patent and trademark litigation. Mr. May, who is also an adjunct professor at Michigan State University where he teaches a course on general intellectual property, earned his J.D. in 2001 from the University of Chicago Law School; his M.B.A., with a concentration in entrepreneurship, from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business; his M.S. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and his B.S. in chemistry, cum laude, from Duke University.

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