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innovation

Value-Based Pricing

SmartPaTH Plus

Clients want more than reasonable fees. They want predictability, transparency, and confidence. SmartPaTH Plus delivers this by helping us build cost-effective budgets while providing greater certainty from the outset. Using proprietary data, historical insights, and AI-driven analysis of comparable matters, we bring clarity and informed forecasting to every engagement. That predictability is backed by a decade of investment in sophisticated pricing capabilities. Our phase-based fee model and advanced in-house modeling system allow us to analyze matters in detail and structure alternative fee arrangements with precision and value in mind.

THE SMARTPATH PLUS ADVANTAGE

  • By using our document analysis and transaction management tools, we ensure that there are fewer people holed up in a conference room poring over thousands of pages of documents, chasing signatures and/or manually compiling reports or closing binders. Everything is now organized – and visible – in one place, and documents are generated at the touch of a button.
  • Our document assembly and automation tool, in particular, enhances our ability to offer comparative pricing value, as we are an extremely early adopter of this technology among U.S. law firms.
  • We continuously update our pricing repository with data from matters completed under alternative fee arrangements to ensure we can maximize value when developing fee proposals.
  • Our Matter & Portfolio Management and Budget & Work Planning tools allow us to combine hours and rates; to estimate how much a matter will cost based upon past or actual data; to bundle things or consider fixed fees by phases or per task; and to monitor matter progress and stay on track once budget hours have been agreed upon.

We invite you to learn more about our value-based pricing strategies. Email us at Innovation@ThompsonHine.com.

Thompson Hine. Always Innovating. Always Advancing.

Our value-based pricing program is built on the principle that many projects need meaningful alternatives to the standard billable hour that provide cost predictability and transparency. Powered by disciplined legal project management, SmartPaTH Plus enables us to offer tailored pricing arrangements — fixed fees, phased budgets, blended rates, success-based fees, and other creative structures — that align legal costs with client business objectives.

From the outset of every engagement, we work alongside clients to define scope and objectives to design a pricing structure and success metrics that account for key milestones and desired outcomes. We then build detailed work plans and budgets, monitor performance in real time, and conduct post-engagement reviews — all to ensure that our pricing commitments are grounded in rigor and delivered with accountability.

What makes this program possible is the infrastructure behind it.

  • Dedicated Pricing Leadership — Our Chief Practice Innovation Officer drives the broader strategy, tools, and continuous improvement efforts that make flexible pricing sustainable at scale—and, when requested, collaborates directly with clients to strengthen their own legal operations and project management capabilities. Our full-time Pricing Manager serves as a firmwide resource for developing and refining value-based pricing arrangements, working with practice teams to structure each engagement around the pricing model best suited to the matter.
  • Proprietary Pricing and Planning Tools — Our proprietary Budget & Work Planning technology allows us to rapidly develop the detailed, phase-based budgets and staffing plans that underpin every value-based pricing arrangement. Our integrated Matter & Portfolio Management platform provides real-time reporting and seamless communication, giving clients ongoing visibility into cost performance and ensuring we deliver on the pricing commitments we make.
  • Data-Driven Pricing Accuracy — We use financial analytics tools and uniform task codes across all firm matters to maintain a central repository of historical spending data at the phase and task level. This data is the foundation of our value-based pricing capability — it allows us to set pricing with confidence, benchmark costs against comparable matters, and continuously sharpen the accuracy and competitiveness of our pricing over time.
  • A True Alternative to Hourly Billing — SmartPaTH Plus is not a one-time discount or a single pricing model applied across the board. It is a comprehensive, firm-supported program that combines dedicated leadership, proprietary technology, and deep financial analytics to deliver pricing arrangements that are predictable, transparent, and aligned with the way our clients measure value.