I have had the fortune of having time as of late to read writings and thoughts from lawyers around the country on various topics, including the changing thought pattern on the way law offices can be run.

There are wonderful individuals blogging about the philosophy of law firms such as http://greatestamericanlawyer.typepad.com/, where people are engaged in the thought and philosophy of leaving the every imposing "Billable Hour."

As a lawyer, and businessman, I can't imagine running a business with a regular unquantifiable question mark in budget for a lawyer. I don't know how people of done it for all these years, which is also why people don't often like their lawyers very much.

My firm J(C)N, is setting out to help in changing the way law is practiced. Where lawyers are more than just really expensive individuals that you pay by the minute, to individuals where there time, comment, and commitment is valued as a complete and full service.

Clients at J(C)N will not just know the bill before it comes, but will want to pick up the phone and talk to their lawyer about the project. When you get away from billing by the hour, it enables a lawyer to think outside of 6 minute increments and allows them to "add value" to the clients product. If it doesn't add value, then why are we doing it?

I am not a litigator, and I don't know how this type of relationship or fee structure could or would be applied to a litigation scenario, but in the world of transactions, contracts, and business compliance, innovative approaches to billing and changing the nature and relationship that a lawyer has with their clients is paramount to a thriving and robust practice of law.