Legal Fees in General

We are committed to providing quality legal services as efficiently as possible to our clients and at a cost which is reasonably keeping within community standards. Our fees are based on criteria which may include the experience of the lawyer, the complexity of the services to be performed, the results achieved, and the time involved.

Some legal services may be performed on an hourly fee basis. In most such cases, you will be requested to pay a retainer or advance fee deposit based on a fee estimate. For other services, a predetermined (fixed) fee may be appropriate, and you may be required to pay all or a portion of this fee in advance. In some matters, the legal fees may be handled on a contingency basis, where the fees are paid as a percentage of the amount of money recovered. Sometimes our fees are a blend of the hourly and percentage arrangements.

Fees can be a difficult subject, but a clear understanding from the beginning is desirable. To that end, we have published a fee schedule outlining our usual fee arrangements. If you have not received a copy after meeting with one of our attorneys, please ask for one.

Our policy requires our attorneys to discuss the fee arrangements in advance, and we will enter into a contract with you regarding our fees. If actual fees will exceed previous estimates, we will endeavor to advise you in advance. We are always willing to discuss your concerns regarding fees.

Various Types of Fees

Consultation Fee

A fee of $200 is charged for an initial consultation with an attorney (excluding personal injury consultations), unless other arrangements are made in advance.

Hourly Fees

The hourly rate for attorneys in our firm ranges from $350 to $375. The hourly rate for our legal assistants is $100.

Advance Fee Deposit

Most matters require an advance fee deposit, which is an amount of money paid up front at the time the attorney is hired. An advance fee deposit typically ranges anywhere from $500 to $10,000 or more. The deposit for your particular case will be discussed during your initial consultation. We will keep track of the time we spend on your case in tenths of an hour. Around the beginning of the month, you will receive a statement showing each service and the amount of time it took to perform that service. The time is totaled, multiplied by the hourly rate and subtracted from any advance fee deposit. Attorneys bill for just about everything they do which promotes the client’s interests, including telephone calls, correspondence (both sent and received), research, preparation of pleadings, office conferences and court appearances.

Flat Fee

At times we may charge a flat fee – one price for the entire handling of a case – as an alternative to hourly billing. The client is notified of the amount of the flat fee prior to services being rendered. This pricing is quite common in some areas, such as estate planning, some contracts and agreements and certain procedures such as deed of trust foreclosures. For many matters, however, it is not practical to adequately predict the services needed to enable the lawyer and client to agree on a flat fee in advance.

Contingency Fee

Most personal injury, and some discrimination and employment cases, as well as other types of matters, are handled on a contingency fee basis. This means that if the client does not receive a settlement, no attorney fees are incurred. Our customary contingency fee is one-third of the recovery after costs are deducted. However, the percentage may vary in a particular case dependent upon various factors.

Filing Fees and Other Costs

The clerk of the court collects a filing fee when certain papers are filed. These fees range from court to court and county to county. Filing fees for District Court matters are typically in the neighborhood of $50, while Superior Court filings are in the range of $210 to $280. In addition to the filing fees, there are a variety of other costs which may occur depending on the type of case. Some examples are: the fee for serving the initial or subsequent papers on the other parties, typically called Service of Process, usually from $40 to $100 per service or the filing of a jury demand ranging from $125 to $250.

Additional fees may be incurred for mediation, deposition reporter costs, real estate or business appraisers, accountants and/or actuaries or other “experts” or private investigators.