About

Luke Mette, like so many of his peers, has a hard task on his hands to try to reduce legal spend. Recognizing that the billable hour cannot be abolished in one fell swoop, he came up with a novel compromise version, which he calls the ‘weighted billable hour’, the arrangement is designed to incentivize firms for finding the most efficient attorney to handle matters. He explains: ‘the concept is a means of reducing external legal spend and comparing firms like for like on cost’. Internally, he has designed a set of core accountabilities to ensure his team remains lean and flexible, and cites ‘developing others’ as one of the aspects he enjoys most about his role. He is understandably proud of his team, which he says has ‘achieved a series of successful litigation outcomes that have delivered significantly more value to the business than the cost of litigation’.