As a core component to profitability, the accurate pricing of legal matters is now a key concern for most law firm management teams.

In recent years, consumers have started to interrogate legal delivery costs in much more detail, construct complex pricing arrangements, add more services and conditions to their fee structures and generally become much more savvy in getting more for less.

Partners and fee earners have traditionally used pricing models based on experience and personal assumptions to estimate fees – but these are rarely backed up by detailed empirical data or ongoing analysis and review. In a world where profits and margins are getting tighter, the flaws in this approach are becoming more prominent and firms have realised that they need to adopt new proactive approaches to matter pricing to ensure ongoing success and profitability.