How I think about — Pricing Strategy
Price the matter before you scope it.
Pricing is a design discipline, not a finance afterthought. The strongest engagements get priced on the same call where the work gets shaped — when the partner still has leverage to bound scope, sequence phases, and decide what's worth doing on the clock vs. what's worth fixing.
Do
Practice- +01
Anchor on outcome value, not estimated hours
Start from what the matter is worth to the client (deal size, exposure avoided, speed-to-close). Hours are the input, not the price.
Source — BigHand · Pricing Maturity Report
- +02
Build a phase-level price, not a matter-level price
Discovery / negotiation / closing each carry different risk and leverage profiles. Pricing them separately makes scope creep visible early.
Source — Thomson Reuters Institute · State of the Legal Market
- +03
Bring finance into the pitch, not the post-mortem
If pricing first sees the matter at the bill-review stage, the margin is already set. The earlier finance sees scope, the more upside survives.
- +04
Document the assumptions, not just the number
A price is a bet on a scope. Writing the assumptions down is how you renegotiate without it feeling like a fight.
Source — ACC · Value Challenge Toolkit
Don't
Patterns- −01
Don't discount to win and absorb to keep
Standing discounts compound. A 10% rate cut without a scope change is a permanent margin transfer with no behavioural quid pro quo.
Source — Altman Weil · Law Firms in Transition
- −02
Don't price off last year's matter
Realisation on the prior engagement is a lagging indicator. AI-assisted workflows are quietly resetting the cost base every quarter.
Source — Clio · Legal Trends Report 2025
- −03
Don't let the partner price alone in the room
Pricing under client pressure, without a model, is how firms end up with AFAs they can't deliver. Make the model the third party in the negotiation.
§ References
Where this thinking comes from
- BigHandPricing & Profitability Maturity Report
- Thomson Reuters InstituteState of the Legal Market 2025
- Altman WeilLaw Firms in Transition Survey
- ACCValue Challenge Toolkit
Synthesised from publicly available reports and commentary. All views my own.