We’re building a sustainable flat fee IP litigation firm, Confluence Law Partners, from the ground up. This is our story. We offer firsthand, unvarnished accounts on our progress.

Most people merely talk about flat fees.

Lots of lawyers and their clients complain about the very real problems with hourly billing, but, in most instances, this is no more than talk. Very, very few lawyers are, as their principal delivery model, providing legal services on a flat fee basis, fewer still in the litigation area, and none are committed to working for a flat fee in connection with complex IP litigation.

Well, we are doing it.

Our Silicon Valley firm, Confluence Law Partners, handles complex IP litigation for low flat fees. We are made up entirely of experienced trial attorneys from AmLaw 50 IP practices. We have already chalked up significant wins for our clients, notwithstanding the short amount of time that we have been in operation (January, 2009), and in each instance our clients paid far less than they would have under an hourly model.

This is a work in progress.

The reality is that flat fee IP litigation is uncharted territory. (Yeah, yeah, there are lawyers out there who say they’ve been litigating forever on a flat fee basis . . . respectfully, not like us, not like this.) Like any start-up, our learning curve has been steep and with our successes, there have been hard lessons learned along the way.

You get a ring side seat.

Our progress reports and community comments will provide an intriguing lens on how or how not to practice law under the new alternative fee paradigm, and how and when a high-tech business should use a flat fee litigation firm. We are sharing real world data on the actual operation of our flat fee firm. Pull up a chair and see what happens.