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I'm doing a class project where I have to win a pitch for Amazon's new headquarters move, and I'm in charge of presenting the client with how we would staff and bill for this. Could people who work in real estate (or people who are knowledgeable of the practice area), tell me how they would staff and bill or how they think it would be? Also, are there good resources for finding out more specific info about how someone would staff and bill something like this?

What an unconventional project. What class is this for? (Sorry, can't really be of any help)

Anonymous User wrote:I'm doing a class project where I have to win a pitch for Amazon's new headquarters move, and I'm in charge of presenting the client with how we would staff and bill for this. Could people who work in real estate (or people who are knowledgeable of the practice area), tell me how they would staff and bill or how they think it would be? Also, are there good resources for finding out more specific info about how someone would staff and bill something like this?

I imagine your professor is looking to see creative thinking from you, not how others do it.

For billing you have two options. Hourly or fixed fee. You could come up with some innovative methodology, like hourly with a cap, but that involves you taking risk.

How do you staff it - do you use firms, or is the project big enough that you can employ folk directly. If you're an existing firm, do you have sufficient resources or do you need to hire for it? If you're hiring for it, are these contract attorneys that you'll let go at the end of the deal, or do you have enough recurring business to keep them on afterwards?

Can't think of any specific resources you could look to, but I would think about who your client is, what they are doing relating to Amazon's HQ2, how your firm could specifically assist them, and then who at a law firm would be required for their expertise.

Anonymous User wrote:I'm doing a class project where I have to win a pitch for Amazon's new headquarters move, and I'm in charge of presenting the client with how we would staff and bill for this. Could people who work in real estate (or people who are knowledgeable of the practice area), tell me how they would staff and bill or how they think it would be? Also, are there good resources for finding out more specific info about how someone would staff and bill something like this?

Bill for what? You've specified what business activity the client is doing, but you haven't specified what actual legal work the firm is being hired for.

So what plan a Law firm would propose to win all work related to the move? Because this is not a real estate department only thing so why are you asking only about that? And I cannot imagine any firm would do this as fixed fee. And how to staff is going to depend on time constraints I imagine

ya'll are assuming OP is a law student, and that the project is legal in nature. could be some UG bizbro asking questions bc he thinks that lawyers somehow have better answers.

posting on the wrong forum... such a stupid, avoidable tragedy.

albanach wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I'm doing a class project where I have to win a pitch for Amazon's new headquarters move, and I'm in charge of presenting the client with how we would staff and bill for this. Could people who work in real estate (or people who are knowledgeable of the practice area), tell me how they would staff and bill or how they think it would be? Also, are there good resources for finding out more specific info about how someone would staff and bill something like this?

I imagine your professor is looking to see creative thinking from you, not how others do it.

For billing you have two options. Hourly or fixed fee. You could come up with some innovative methodology, like hourly with a cap, but that involves you taking risk.

How do you staff it - do you use firms, or is the project big enough that you can employ folk directly. If you're an existing firm, do you have sufficient resources or do you need to hire for it? If you're hiring for it, are these contract attorneys that you'll let go at the end of the deal, or do you have enough recurring business to keep them on afterwards?

He absolutely is. This thread is meant to help me brainstorm, not necessarily as a way for other people to do my homework haha.

Perspective is from an existing firm (v50 NYC firm).

NoLongerALurker wrote:What an unconventional project. What class is this for? (Sorry, can't really be of any help)

It may out me, as it is a school-specific class

nealric wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I'm doing a class project where I have to win a pitch for Amazon's new headquarters move, and I'm in charge of presenting the client with how we would staff and bill for this. Could people who work in real estate (or people who are knowledgeable of the practice area), tell me how they would staff and bill or how they think it would be? Also, are there good resources for finding out more specific info about how someone would staff and bill something like this?

Bill for what? You've specified what business activity the client is doing, but you haven't specified what actual legal work the firm is being hired for.

I honestly have no idea. I'm a 1L, so bear with me.

viz-luv wrote:So what plan a Law firm would propose to win all work related to the move? Because this is not a real estate department only thing so why are you asking only about that? And I cannot imagine any firm would do this as fixed fee. And how to staff is going to depend on time constraints I imagine

We're pitching for the real estate development work that would come from HQ2, not all work related to the move.

viz-luv wrote:So what plan a Law firm would propose to win all work related to the move? Because this is not a real estate department only thing so why are you asking only about that? And I cannot imagine any firm would do this as fixed fee. And how to staff is going to depend on time constraints I imagine

You don't think Amazon have the leverage to negotiate at least a cap?

Going back to the question, Amazon have over 800 in-house attorneys. A big aspect to pricing will be how much they handle in-house. To what extent will the law firm just be providing people familiar with local law?

Amazon also have a lot of experience in managing real estate transactions, just look at all the warehouses they are opening. They'd expect significant discounts on normal fees for a building of this magnitude because of their expertise in this area.

Anonymous User wrote: We're pitching for the real estate development work that would come from HQ2, not all work related to the move.

Still gonna cross departments with something this big. And how they are financing could add even more with public companies like this.

albanach wrote:

viz-luv wrote:So what plan a Law firm would propose to win all work related to the move? Because this is not a real estate department only thing so why are you asking only about that? And I cannot imagine any firm would do this as fixed fee. And how to staff is going to depend on time constraints I imagine

You don't think Amazon have the leverage to negotiate at least a cap?

Going back to the question, Amazon have over 800 in-house attorneys. A big aspect to pricing will be how much they handle in-house. To what extent will the law firm just be providing people familiar with local law?

Amazon also have a lot of experience in managing real estate transactions, just look at all the warehouses they are opening. They'd expect significant discounts on normal fees for a building of this magnitude because of their expertise in this area.

So a strong selling point would be our firm's expertise in handling issues with local law, in addition to be willing to give a significant discount on billing?

Pro bono?

texas1100 wrote:Pro bono?

Lol, honestly might throw that out as an option.

I'm having difficulty finding even basic info, like how many attorneys typically work on a deal or what a typical amount for billing looks like

Just use phrases like blended rate, risk sharing, caps, expertise, etc. and you’ll be fine.

RaceJudicata wrote:Just use phrases like blended rate, risk sharing, caps, expertise, etc. and you’ll be fine.

How does a cap work? Like we will under no circumstances charge more than x amount?

albanach wrote:

viz-luv wrote:So what plan a Law firm would propose to win all work related to the move? Because this is not a real estate department only thing so why are you asking only about that? And I cannot imagine any firm would do this as fixed fee. And how to staff is going to depend on time constraints I imagine

You don't think Amazon have the leverage to negotiate at least a cap?

Going back to the question, Amazon have over 800 in-house attorneys. A big aspect to pricing will be how much they handle in-house. To what extent will the law firm just be providing people familiar with local law?

Amazon also have a lot of experience in managing real estate transactions, just look at all the warehouses they are opening. They'd expect significant discounts on normal fees for a building of this magnitude because of their expertise in this area.

So my firm is based in NYC, and does not have many domestic US offices. I don't think we can sell them on local matters...do have experience with HQs though.