Paul Jacobson

I’ve been meaning to post a tutorial of sorts about these things we refer to as ‘RSS’, ‘XML’ or just plain ‘feeds’.  LexBlog has posted links to a series of posts on CT BizBlogs about this technology that makes it that much easier to aggregate all that information that tickles your fancy on the Web.  By way of introduction, feeds are generally identified by little red or orange labels with the words “RSS”, “XML” or “FEED” and lately with the icon (this change to this new icon was made recently in an effort to standardise the icons used to indicate the location of feeds).  So what is RSS aka feeds aka XML technology?  According to CT BizBlogs:

“RSS organizes web-based information into a format which allows people to subscribe to automatic updates”

Another way of explaining what feeds are is to compare them to your incoming mail.  Feeds are reformatted content from websites that support the feature (typically most blogs) and which you can subscribe to using a “feed reader” or “aggregator”.  An aggregator then downloads updated feeds from the relevant websites as those websites are updated or pretty much whenever you want to download them.  If you are using an aggregator on your computer (as opposed to a web-based aggregator like Bloglines or Newsgator), you can then catch up on developments on your favourite websites offline with all the updates delivered to one place.

Take a look at the posts on CT BizBlogs on the following topics:

• RSS Introduction;
• Finding and using a RSS reader; and
• Finding RSS feeds.

Another post worth reading is Niall Kennedy’s excellent post titled “State of the aggregator” which looks at the current use of this technology as well as its potential.

Technorati Tags: aggregator, bloglines, feeds, newsgator, xml, rss

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Aside from my very hypothetical future iPod, I would love to have a device I can use to read and keep up to date on all my feeds.  I have trimmed my list down to the feeds I am really interested in and yet I struggle to keep up.  There must be a way to take feeds away with me when I leave my office.  At first I looked for a way to synch my feeds with my iPod (I really could read feeds on my iPod, it would work!) but couldn’t find anything decent (particularly something that could interface with my feed readers).  My mobile phone’s screen (Nokia 6630) is way too small.  I really don’t want yet another device.  Any suggestions?  Perhaps a phone with a bigger screen (I use a Mac so no Windows powered devices, I’m afraid).

Apple really should put out an iPod sized tablet … !

Technorati Tags: Apple and Intel Ad, bloglines, feeds, iPod, newsgator, netnewswire

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It has been a busy weekend.  Over and above revisions to our billing model as a whole and to our efforts to encourage better communication with our clients, we are also quite excited about a new legal advice service we are launching.

Given the high costs of legal services, it appears than many individuals and SMEs do not have ready access to affordable legal advice.  For the most part a simple phone call can set a client back a few hundred rands.  This prospect means that clients may spend more time watching the clock than participating meaningfully in the conversation with their attorneys.  This, of course, constitutes a barrier to legal advice for many prospective clients which, in turn, means that many may attempt to tackle an issue on their own.  This could lead to bigger problems down the line and even costly litigation.  All this when all you may want to do is ask a quick question and receive a quick answer.

Our legal advice service seeks to address that barrier.  What we offer is a month by month subscription based service whereby you may contact us by phone, email or fax with a brief query which we will answer concisely.  As its name suggests, this is an advice service.  Think of it as a virtual legal advice centre.  You are free to use the service as long as you wish.  You will not be required to sign long term agreements or commit to anything more than one month at a time.  All we ask is that if you wish to stop making use of the service that you send us an email or a fax to this effect so we have a written record of this.

The legal advice service is being offered on a trial basis and is governed by our terms of appointment. This service is no longer available. The Law Society informed me that such a service is regarded as touting or otherwise as unprofessional conduct.

Technorati Tags: fees, legal advice, legal services

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I recently read a post on The Greatest American Lawyer titled “Client Communications Are Not A Billable Event” and got me thinking about all those phone calls and emails between me and my clients as an extension of our debate about our billing model.  Here is what he has to say:

“I am always surprised by the fact that law firms see basic client communications as a billable event. A smart client will always ask their law firm whether or not they will get billed if they send their lawyer an email or a transmittal letter. Clients should know up front whether a five minute phone call is going to result in a sixty dollar charge.

Law firms that view basic client communications as a billable event are, in my opinion, law firms that could care less about customer service. Billing for basic client communications is indicative of a law firm mentality focused on billing every possible moment of every day to one or more clients.

We like to say that we are a value-based billing law firm. We only bill for those items which provide value to the clients. If we are not marking up a document or producing work product which can be visibly seen by the client–not just any work product, but high level analysis–that we don’t bill it. If a phone call is that significant, it will always result in work after you hang up the phone. If an email contains strategic or other important information in a case, then it will require the attorney to get out of their chair and do something with it. The activity that comes from basic client communications is appropriate for billing.

An interesting thing has happened to our law firm as a result of the fact that we do not bill for basic phone calls, transmittal or emails by and between the firm and our clients. Our clients are unobstructed to provide us key information or involve us in their court business problems. By facilitating as opposed to discouraging communications, we end up with more matters to handle on behalf of our clients. As importantly, our clients feel good about calling us on the phone or receiving basic information. Their guts don’t tighten up with fear that they are getting billed time by calling their attorney on the phone.”

I agree with him and in line with my desire to build a “value-based billing law firm”, Jacobson Attorneys will no longer charge for routine phone calls and emails requiring less than about ten minutes worth of our time.  Why ten minutes?  Well most routine phone calls or emails to take a quick instruction to give an update are well under ten minutes anyway and it is a convenient time frame to use when determining when a phone call or email is not routine and should be billed at our usual rates.  It is a fairly fluid concept and doesn’t lend itself to great precision so we will play it by ear for the time being until both we and our clients have a better sense of which attendances are appropriate to charge for and which are not.

My objective is to encourage greater interaction between this firm and its clients.  I believe that if a client is dissuaded to call me to discuss a brief issue due to a fear that I will charge for those few minutes then I have obviously failed my client.

Technorati Tags: fees, legal services, routine attendances, reduced legal fees

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The traditional billing model has been for attorneys to bill by the hour.  This model is in widespread use and barring a few exceptions, constitutes the default billing model.  Very simply, it means attorneys charge an hourly rate and that hour rate is usually divided up into units (ten units of six minutes being most common).  It is a relatively straightforward billing model and a lucrative one at that.  The problem with this model is that it is not cost effective for clients and it basically means that the sky is the limit as far as legal costs are concerned.  This billing model contributes substantially to the high cost of legal services and because clients have become accustomed to paying fees on this basis and because the firms that use this billing model profit handsomely from it, there is has been little incentive to revisit this billing model.

We are in the process of reviewing and altering our billing model because we recognise that the very prospective clients we would like to serve are often very reluctant to instruct attorneys because of the high cost of legal services involved.  As part of our initiative to make quality legal services available to our clients and to prospective clients, we have made a few changes to our billing structure.  We will no longer be charging for certain basic expenses such as telephone calls, photocopies (within reason), faxes and certain of our travel costs.  These costs are covered by our usual fees.

Another aspect of our review of our billing model involves a review of alternatives to the hourly billing model.  These alternatives include flat fees; variations of a contingency fee (contingency fees are regulated in South Africa, largely by an act of parliament); a ‘blended’ fee arrangements and even budgeted fees.  For an outline of these alternatives, take a look at this article posted on the Missouri Bar’s website.  For us this review is not about finding more ways to bill more money but rather finding ways to align our billing model with the value we add.  This notion of a ‘value add’ is used frequently, so much so that it has started to lose its meaning.  It is, however, our intention to put our money where our mouths are and bill more in line with the degree to which our services have real value to our clients.

For the time being we will explore ways to ‘blend’ an hourly fee structure with a flat fee structure in a way that makes sense both to our clients and for us.  Watch this space!

Technorati Tags: fees, legal advice, legal services

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