As a small business owner myself, I have had one or two discussions with local legal companies regarding how they could better service my needs. While younger members understood the need to do more “risk sharing” by providing firm, fixed-priced bids for well-defined jobs (eg file a new company, negotiate a license agreement, etc) their senior partners were firmly committed to maintaining the billable hours model. Sigh.

With almost every other discipline, from marketing to accounting, moving away from the billable hours model, it can only be a matter of time before most law firms go the same way.

Although I hadn’t thought of it before now, you’re right: when that happens, they will need the exact new skills that you describe.