With legal fees coming under increasing scrutiny, all law firms, whether they charge by the hour or operate AFAs, will need to negotiate fees with their clients. Budgeting and Negotiating Fees with Clients: A Lawyer's Guide is a must-have handbook for individual lawyers, firm leaders, and directors of support services who are looking to tackle these challenges head on at both an operational and a strategic level. It provides:

• Clear analysis of the increasing importance of budgeting and negotiating fees for all firms - whether they have adopted AFAs or rely on hourly billing;
• A step-by-step guide for improving individual behaviour and firm-wide processes in relation to fees; and
• Practical tools for generating consistently profitable fee structures.

Supported by case studies from law firms and law firm clients, along with input from other management consultants, this report covers topics including:

• The fee models adopted by different law firms;
• How AFAs are intensifying the need for budgeting and negotiating skills;
• Understanding law firm financial data - a prerequisite for successful budgeting and negotiation;
• Creating a realistic matter budget;
• Overcoming obstacles to negotiating fees effectively;
• Managing the negotiation process effectively;
• Obtaining the desired fees and structures;
• Developing a strategy for better budgeting and negotiating;
• Implementing change and embedding best practice;
• Business tools for budgeting, negotiating, and client communication;
• How to operate value billing; and
• Best practice law firm negotiation from a client's perspective.

This invaluable resource also includes supporting checklists and templates to allow readers to start putting the lessons learned into practice immediately.