As authorized departments push for extra worth from their exterior counsel relationships, many are contemplating the usage of flat-fee entry preparations for ongoing Recommendation & Counsel work. These month-to-month charges present flexibility, predictability, higher communication with the regulation agency, and infrequently lowered authorized spend.
Drawing on our mixed expertise in Authorized Operations technique and authorized pricing transformation, we’ve demonstrated how scope-based pricing fashions are serving to authorized groups transition from reactive assist to proactive partnerships.
Why Hourly-Based mostly Fashions Fall Quick
The standard hourly price construction for A&C assist is commonly an open checkbook. and doesn’t promote effectivity. What’s included within the open matter (e.g., Company prices, pre-litigation)? What are service degree expectations? What is completed in-house vs. Exterior Counsel? With out well-defined scope or service ranges, these preparations can depart each purchasers and companies guessing with out controls on the greenback quantity spent every month.
This stress was echoed by Collin Smyser, Basic Counsel at Choice Care Well being, on the UpLevel View podcast (July 2025):
“When you could have hourly pricing… it might probably trigger your attorneys to wonder if they need to name exterior counsel, and it might probably form of spin them up by way of whether or not they need to do the work themselves versus make that decision.”
The Energy of Scope-Based mostly Pricing
Scope-based fixed-fee pricing flips the script. As an alternative of paying for undefined entry and limitless spend, purchasers enter structured agreements with clearly outlined providers, supply cadence, and responsiveness expectations all on a month-to-month mounted price.
Assist may be custom-made based mostly on complexity and enterprise worth. Some engagements might concentrate on routine duties, corresponding to answering questions or reviewing paperwork. Others might require strategic counsel, danger evaluation, or deeper collaboration with inside stakeholders. For top-impact situations, authorized departments might require rapid, executive-level entry to exterior consultants who’re deeply accustomed to the enterprise. Every scope of labor is priced accordingly, providing a month-to-month mounted price for ongoing work streams and a hard and fast price per prevalence for episodic work.
As Smyser famous in that very same podcast episode, authorized groups ought to be upfront about what sort of service they’re searching for:
“You ought to be very open concerning the degree of service you need out of your regulation agency… It’s completely positive to say the gold degree of service will value you this a lot, and the silver will value you much less.”
Why Authorized Departments Are Making the Shift
Rising regulation agency charges and the productiveness enhance from Generative AI are prompting in-house groups to revisit how they pay for recurring authorized work. Scope-based pricing doesn’t simply provide higher value management; it rewards outcomes over effort.
Smyser emphasised the disconnect between time and worth below hourly fashions:
“Hourly charges don’t tie to worth… What you don’t need is to be persistently stunned to the upside. If you happen to’re all the time saying, ‘Properly, I’ll do that for $5,000,’ after which it’s $10,000, that’s an actual drawback.”
Authorized departments need measurable impression, environment friendly supply, decrease prices, and proactive insights. Scope-based contracts create the muse for these outcomes.
Learn how to Construct a Scope-Based mostly Recommendation & Counsel Program
Getting began doesn’t require an overhaul, simply intention. Start by defining what sort of labor must be carried out by Exterior Counsel versus what will probably be executed in-house. This must also embody service-level expectations. Internally, it’s about setting clear expectations and drawing distinct boundaries. As Smyser put it:
“Be very clear about what’s in and what’s out; what you’ll do internally versus what you’ll anticipate externally.”
A pilot engagement, centered on a single observe space, could be a low-risk solution to take a look at the mannequin, collect suggestions, and refine the method earlier than scaling it extra broadly. It will also be used as a solution to drive acceptance of this new methodology.
What Success Appears to be like Like
With scope-based pricing, the true win isn’t simply decreasing authorized spend, it’s gaining predictability and liberating up time. Authorized groups not must wade by means of the month-to-month bill and accrual grind. Turnaround instances enhance, inside purchasers get higher service, and the authorized perform turns into extra strategic and measurable.
On the UpLevel View podcast, Smyser defined that finances predictability goes a great distance:
“You possibly can keep away from preventing together with your finance group over value overruns… and keep away from fights together with your distributors and your regulation companies over particular person traces within the invoices.”
And success isn’t static. Common check-ins and post-engagement evaluations assist refine scope, floor course of enhancements, and preserve the client-firm partnership aligned as wants evolve.
The AI Accelerator
AI is reworking authorized supply, notably in Recommendation & Counsel work. Duties that after took hours now take minutes. However except pricing displays these good points, purchasers received’t see the profit.
Scope-based pricing makes it affordable to ask how AI is definitely being deployed within the work being executed. Is the agency making use of automation to early drafts, compliance evaluations, or analysis? And in that case, are these time financial savings being handed alongside to the shopper?
This mannequin helps guarantee authorized departments aren’t paying for handbook effort that AI already handles, and it rewards companies that embrace effectivity and transparency.
From Transaction to Partnership
Scope-based pricing encourages a collaborative rhythm. Shoppers don’t must assume twice concerning the meter operating earlier than choosing up the telephone. Corporations don’t must guess what’s anticipated. Everybody is aware of the foundations of engagement and win collectively.
So if you happen to’re nonetheless managing A&C work on hourly charges with fuzzy boundaries, contemplate this your cue: Scope it. Worth it. Measure it.
That’s the place actual worth and real partnership start.
that thrives in change.
Stephanie Corey is the co-founder and CEO of UpLevel Ops. She additionally serves because the International Chair of LINK x L Suite—a premier neighborhood of Basic Counsel and Authorized Operations leaders united to rework the authorized trade by means of collaboration, innovation, and strategic perception. Stephanie co-founded LINK (Authorized Innovators Community), a authorized ops group completely for knowledgeable in-house professionals, and beforehand based the Company Authorized Operations Consortium (CLOC), the place she served as an government board member. She is a acknowledged chief in authorized operations and a frequent advisor to company authorized departments on scaling operational excellence. Please be at liberty to attach together with her on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephcorey-ulo/
Ken Callander is the founding father of Worth Methods by UpLevel Ops and focuses on serving to company authorized departments optimize their exterior counsel relationships, making certain better worth, effectivity, and finances predictability. As a part of the Advisory Workforce at UpLevel Ops, he partners with legal teams to implement strategic outside counsel management programs, including transitioning from hourly billing to value-based fee arrangements. His purchasers span industries corresponding to know-how, healthcare, building, the sharing financial system, non-public fairness, and multinational conglomerates.
