ABA Commission on Billable Hours Report

ABA Commission on Billable Hours Report

2001-2002

ABA Commission on Billable Hours Report

2001-2002

? 2002 American Bar Association

The views expressed herein have not been approved by the House of Delegates or the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association and, accordingly, should not be construed as representing the policy of the American Bar Association.

THE CONTRIBUTORS

The ABA Commission on Billable Hours

Co-Chairs: Jeffrey F. Liss and Anastasia D. Kelly

Members: Mitchell A. Orpett, Esther F. Lardent, John J. Curtin, Jr., Dennis Curtis, Janet S. Kloenhamer, Peter D. Zeughauser, Rees W. Morrison, and Michael Roster

Liaisons: Susan Hackett, Arthur G. Greene, Kathleen J. Hopkins, and Jeffrey J. Snell

Commission Counsel: Kathy Morris

Staff Members: Katy Englehart and Veronica Munoz

Special Contributions: Lisa Smith, Hildebrandt International Nathan Rosen, Credit Suisse First Boston

Reporter and Designer: Jill Eckert

Editor: Gary Hengstler

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

W e would like to thank the members, liaisons, and staff of our Commission for their unflagging dedication and hard work over this past year in crystallizing the issues, researching and drafting this report and stimulating the profession and the lay public in thinking about and beginning to discuss the issues and problems posed by the billable hour system. The Commission's continuing goal is to initiate a serious debate that will lead to innovations that address the flaws in the current standard. It is our hope that this report will begin to take us down that road.

Our work has been blessed with the interest and generous participation of Associate Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who hosted the Commission's first meeting last fall, and who has drawn attention to the many ways in which the billable hours system has diminished our profession. We thank Justice Breyer for his commitment and interest in the work of the Commission.

Finally, but perhaps most importantly, this report would not have come to fruition without the prescience and dedication of ABA President Robert Hirshon whose strongly held views on the unintended consequences of the dominance of the billable hours system prompted him to make the issue a priority of his presidency.

Commission on Billable Hours Co-Chairs August, 2002

Jeffrey F. Liss Chief Operating Officer Piper Rudnick, LLP

Anastasia D. Kelly Senior Vice President, General Counsel Sears, Roebuck and Co.

ABA Commission on Billable Hours

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