You should care plenty about how your lawyer bills you for the legal services and work that they perform.
For years, clients have been held hostage to the dreaded billable hour by traditional law firms, many of whom have used it as a license to print money. Given the fact that the digital age has transformed everyone into a savvy consumer bidding the lowest price and cost for products the fact that the billable hour has survived is quite a mystery. Charging to do work by the hour (the billable hour) creates unfair financial uncertainty for the client. Plus, the client has no control over the situation in making sure that their lawyer is doing their work efficiently. Sure, the lawyer can estimate how much time it will take to finish the legal work but it will never commit to it in writing. Would you hire a contractor to put a bathroom in your house and not get it in writing to the penny how much the project is going to cost? The answer is no because everyone gets a written estimate. So why doesn’t it work the same way when you hire a lawyer? Why doesn’t the public bargain with lawyers or demand that they provide an estimate of the amount it will cost them in legal fees?
Fortunately, for clients there is a better way to go about hiring an attorney and the method by which they bill you. As a lawyer counseling startups and businesses in New Jersey I don’t bill by the hour. Rather, I bill the client by what is known as “Fixed Fees” or “Flat Fees.” Simply put, the client describes to me the type of legal work that they need done. I quote one price to do the entire project and if the client agrees I will do the work for that price no matter how long it takes.
This is a “win-win” for the client in two ways. First, the client knows to the penny what it will cost in legal fees to do their work. No more uncertainty no more guess work. Second, the client no longer cares how long it will take me to do the work. Either way, the work will get done for the agreed upon price.
I have had very positive experiences with clients in shifting to the Fixed Fee/Flat Fee business model. Typically, a new client will find me on the web and see that I charge a fixed fee and tell me that they are so tired of their big firm lawyers overbilling them or not really knowing what they are being charged. Or, that the legal bills they receive are confusing, wordy, too long or simply not understandable. I distinguish myself from other lawyers by specifying in the Retainer Agreement the exact legal work I will be performing for the client and the exact monetary amount they will be paying me to do the work. My clients absolutely love the transparency and it removes all the guesswork, mystery and uncertainty about the amount of the legal bills.
Please call Startup Business Lawyer Andrew S. Bosin at 201-446-9643. Andrew is located in New Jersey near New York City & charges flat rate fixed legal fees for most engagements.