The Walking Dead: Psychological Biases That Keep the Billable Hour Alive

The American Bar Association and lawyers around the country have been advocating for killing the billable hour, or proclaiming that it is already dead, for nearly two decades. Yet, most firms still rely on the billable hour as their predominant method of charging for services, or use it as the standard by which all other fee options are measured. So, if the billable hour is among the “dead,” how is it still “walking?” Psychological biases of lawyers making fee arrangement decisions across the country may be part of the answer.