Telstra breaks away from the traditional billable hours when paying for legal services. Being one of the nation's biggest corporate consumers of legal services makes the move a force in corporate Australia.

The move follows Western Australia Chief Justice Wayne Martin's opinion of the timesheet lawyer. Back in May, the chief justice startled the business world by considering time-based billing as a moral hazard.

Martin pointed at one of America's most profitable law firms, Wachtell, and Lipton Rosen & Katz and at England's Eversheds. The American company, he said, never used time billing, while the Eversheds uses technology to ensure clients sign off on all fees in advance.

Katrina Johnson, ebay Australia and New Zealand's Director of Legal Affairs and Company Secretary, goes along with Martin's opinion. She said time-billing tends to keeps lawyers from satisfying clients. The conventional practice, she added, has made lawyers spent more time on research and on crafting lengthy reports than on keeping the client's interest first.

According to general counsel for Macquary Bank and subsidiary OzFex Lionel Docker, conservatism has led corporations to maintain the time-based billing. He said most corporations would seek the services of lawyers who have a certain level of recognition in order not to risk company money. Docker has been charging almost exclusively on a time-costing basis.