THE PRICING PROFESSIONAL'S
KM TOOLKIT
by Chris Emerson and Amy Wu of
Bryan Cave
THE PRICING
PROFESSIONAL'S
KM TOOLKIT
Although pricing legal work probably
appears to be focused mostly on financial
metrics — hours, fees, task codes, leverage,
etc. — excelling at pricing requires a solid
understanding of a firm's knowledge
management (KM) assets. For example,
it is difficult to know the average price
of securities class actions through class
certification if one is only looking at summary
financial statistics. While the answer could
probably be derived by looking through
time entries for narratives that discuss the
class certification hearing, that would be
exceedingly painful with a sample of 20 or
more cases. Another example of pricing's
tie to knowledge management occurs when
pricing professionals are trying to find
comparable matters. For instance, if a partner
were to ask for the normal range of fees for a
breach of contract case that asserts violations
of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act
(RESPA) and the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), it
is highly unlikely the pricing professional will
find those cases if he or she is only looking
