Beth MacLean is the founder of Timeless Legal Network. She is a corporate lawyer with over 23 years experience. Beth practiced at the big end of town in both North America and Australia before starting her own niche corporate commercial firm.
She managed to grow the firm to a team of 25 people. Later, she created the Timeless Legal Network, a network designed to help lawyers and their clients become more successful. Beth believes that the business of law can be very challenging.
The Timeless product suite is designed to help lawyers get back to why they went to law school: to make a difference, earn a great living and live a great life.
We asked Beth to tell us more how she started her own boutique law firm and how she moved away from the Billable Hour.
Ilina: Beth, why did you quit a large law firm and start your own boutique?
Beth: That’s such a great question Ilina. The tipping point came one day when I went into the office early on Sunday to finish up a particular document. I arrived early in the morning, and it turned out, I wasn’t alone in the office that Sunday, even at 7 am. One of the senior partners was also there, reading the newspaper (not a legal file or brief). He suddenly asked me out of the blue “See that yacht out there in the harbor? That’s my yacht. Beautiful isn’t it?” I blurted out “Why on earth are you in here reading the newspaper on a Sunday morning? Why aren’t you out there enjoying the sun and the water on your yacht?”
I remember he smiled and said, “Well, I haven’t been on my yacht in a long time.” Then he told me something I’ll never forget. He said “When you first become a lawyer you’re working hard and focusing on hitting your billable targets. Then, for example, you get a call from a friend asking you to go for lunch, it makes you feel a bit important to respond “Sorry, I can’t. I’m working on a big client matter, and I’ve got a crazy deadline.”
And then as time goes on, you keep saying no to invitations, events, and get-togethers, your friends stop calling you. That happened to me, and I started socializing with my work colleagues. So after a long day in the office, I’d often go out for drinks with other lawyers instead of spending time with my family. And over the years, my family moved on too. I’m divorced now. And so I come in here every day, and I read the paper, and I listen to my music because this is where I feel most at home.
Then he sighed and said, “Don’t let that happen to you, Beth.” It profoundly affected me. I started asking myself “What am I doing?! But it actually took me almost two more years before I plucked up the courage to start my own boutique firm.
I: Why did you decide to stop using Billable Hours?
B: I love this question Ilina. It reminds me of a comment made by Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau last November right after he was first elected. He had just chosen his first cabinet, and half of the cabinet members were women. A journalist asked him “Why did you choose to have 50% women in your cabinet? And he replied with three words: “Because it’s 2015.”.
To me, and at the risk of sounding glib, it’s almost like that now in relation to the billable hour model. The practice of law is changing rapidly. There are record numbers of practicing lawyers. And lawyers now face competition from a variety of non-traditional sources – online legal do-it-yourself websites and virtual law offices leading to the commoditization of many legal services.
Some lawyers are reacting by discounting their hourly rates and working longer hours, but that just leads to further erosion of margins and profitability. Ultimately, I don’t feel that lawyers will be able to effectively compete with these challenges while using the billable hour model. So really, the answer to your question is (to borrow from Justin) “Because it’s 2016!”
I: What prevents lawyers from adopting value-based fee arrangements?
B: I believe there are a lot of factors at play here. And I understand it, I really do. I ran my own law firm for years, and one of my biggest issues was ehem… excuse the word…“time”. I just never seemed to have the time to work, as Michael Gerber advocates, “on my business, not in it”. I always seemed to be stuck in the white water of running the firm – trying to get that 
next great client, trying to provide great service to the clients we already had, trying to attract talented and capable lawyers to the team, trying to make sure the team was getting along and was engaged in the firm.
And, since we were still on the billable hour model back then, trying to make sure everyone hit their billable targets plus trying to track everything that was happening around me while using all the wrong measurements ie our KPIs were all based on time and so were lag indicators, not lead indicators. I think a lot of lawyers are in this same boat. It’s tough out there, and it’s getting tougher.
Sometimes it’s easier to just keep doing what you’re already doing than to stop and really look at your firm and work out what’s happening – what’s working, what isn’t and come up with a positive plan for change.
Unfortunately, the challenges the profession is facing from alternative legal services providers is not going away. Some very big players like Google are moving into the market. And big private equity players are pouring big money into legal disruptors. So please excuse another “ehem” moment, but I believe that the time is running out… Lawyers need to act now!
I: You now help lawyers be successful and improve client relationships through the Timeless Network and Roadmap. How does it work exactly?
B: Well, we’ve developed two products to help. The first one is a legal diagnostic tool called Roadmap. It’s the only product we’re aware of on the market designed to help lawyers directly generate revenue. In one 90 minute face-to-face interview with their client, a lawyer will be able to use Roadmap to give the client a snapshot of where their business is at, where they want to go and how to get there without making costly mistakes.
The process results in an auto-generated report and a work plan where the client sets out what work they want done, when they want to do it and why (all of the key information one needs to do value-based pricing or what we call “Timeless Pricing”. This work plan means stable revenues for the law firm going forward.)
But just as important, Roadmap is designed to increase the value of a client’s business and help them avoid the common pitfalls that often derail businesses. It basically changes the client’s paradigm from a reactive, crisis-generated approach to legal issues, to a proactive approach.
So it’s really all about better protected clients and a more profitable law firm. Our second product, Timeless Advantage, is an educational product which demonstrates how to move away from the billable hour model to Timeless Pricing.
I: Which law firms can benefit from it?
B: Roadmap and Advantage are designed for small and medium-sized law firms that want to attract great business clients.
I: We recently did a webinar “Is Billable Hour Slowing Down Innovation in Law Firms’. What are your thoughts?
B: I loved your webinar! Thank you for helping to make more law 
firms aware of the opportunities around Timeless Pricing. It’s remarkable to me that a company that provides law practice software is so innovative. Other providers talk about being innovative, but LegalTrek really delivers. I mean what other practice management provider would even mention the opportunities of moving away from the billable hour let alone specifically design a system that can accommodate firms that wish to do so and THEN host a webinar to spread the good news. Very impressive!
I: Finally, why do you suggest attorneys to build a ‘timeless law practice’?
B: I believe that becoming timeless allows lawyers to reach their full potential. We are all very different. Some of us are very good at business development, some at client relationships, and some at innovation, etc. But when the core measure of performance and remuneration is hours billed, it can stifle the ability to fully develop other skills. It often means that the main focus is on meeting their billable target, not necessarily innovation.
To me, innovation will be the key to surviving and thriving in this challenging environment. But it’s not just about innovation. It’s also about freedom, less stress, being more aligned with your client and being able to have a meaningful impact on your client’s business. To me, it’s about getting back to why you went to law school in the first place.
Learn more about the alternative ways for pricing your legal services in our free eBook “25 Secrets to Success with Alternative Fee Arrangements”!
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