The New York Times today takes a look at the slow decline of the billable hour (which we blogged about previously). Frustrated associates are leaving the profession in droves, and the tyranny of the every-second-counts billing regime is taking a lot of the blame.
The Times piece cites a recent article written for Diversity and the Bar magazine by Deborah Epstein Henry, where she proposes several alternatives to the billable hour. Going by the acroynm FACTS — standing for working hours that can be Fixed, Annualized, Core, Targeted and Shared — she says it modifies the billable hour without throwing out the whole business model, and would appeal more to younger workers. The article doesn’t say anything particularly new, but it does illustrate the increasing number of U.S. firms that are reconsidering their thinking about billing.