Legal Fees and Billing

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Tips & Advice to help you make your decision on Legal Fees and Billing

Perhaps you decided to become an attorney in order to pursue truth and justice or because you wanted to be able to help disadvantaged people get fair treatment from the law. Regardless of your reasons, you must know that practicing law is a business–and, because of that, you need to think about legal fees and billing. After all, you need to make a living working at your profession, no matter how noble your goals.

You can bill clients in a few different ways. Typical payment arrangements include hourly rates, flat fees, and contingency fees. In most cases, hourly rates are used. A retainer, which is money paid against future fees and costs, is often collected in cases where hourly billing is used. Flat fees may be charged for specific legal matters such as completing forms. Some of these forms include a Living Trust, a Business Partnership Agreement, a Standard Lease, a Power of Attorney, a Simple Will, and a Trademark Application. Contingency Fees are generally used with cases where a monetary recovery is expected, such as in motor vehicle accident cases or disability cases. Attorneys charge a certain percentage of the recovered amount, anywhere from 20% to 50% of the total.

Your legal fee arrangements may vary depending upon the clients you serve. You may even end up blending more than one type of fee in some cases. To learn more about legal fees and billing, head to Business.com. The links on the left will provide you with a plethora of valuable information regarding billing arrangements and fee structures for your legal office.

Reducing Your Companys Legal Fees and Billing

Be proactive in managing the lawyer fees for your business to keep costs down. You are not likely to call an attorney because you have good news. If you need legal assistance in your business, do not make things worse by going into debt trying to pay for it.

In addition to the occasional bad news, you may also find yourself needing an attorney for simple day-to-day operations issues. Ask yourself the following questions as you attempt to keep business legal fees from burying you:

1. When is the best time to hire an attorney for my business?

2. Can I do something myself to keep costs down?

3. What are my rights if I feel a legal fee invoice is unreasonable?

Hire an attorney before you need one to keep legal billing down

Many businesses put off hiring an attorney until they absolutely have to have one. That may not be the most beneficial decision for your business. An attorney who is familiar with you and your business will be able to handle legal issues as they arise, possibly eliminating the need for costly litigation.
Try: Top Lawyers of America helps you find a local lawyer for your business needs. Select business in the legal issue box and select your state to find a match. AttorneyFind also helps narrow the search by practice area and state.

Ask what you can do to help with your case if you do not like a legal fee estimate

There are many things you can do to assist your attorney that will result in lower attorney billing at the end of the month. You just need to make it known that money is an issue and ask what you can do to keep costs down. One suggestion may be to try your hand at drafting commonly used documents and having the attorney review them for accuracy.
Try: .docstoc offers a variety of business based document templates for execution by you. Check out Nolo for forms that you can downloaded relatively inexpensively.

Do not hesitate to dispute a bill you feel goes above the attorney fee agreement you agreed to

An attorney should make you aware of any additional expenses and fees that go over what you agreed to, especially if you tell him or her that you have a limited budget. If you receive a bill that far exceeds your expectations, start at the beginning - contact the lawyer to discuss your concerns. If that does not help, you still have options to remedy the situation.
Try: Contact The Devil's Advocate to have them review your invoice. Ask a legal expert on Just Answer if you believe you have been unfairly over billed and qualified experts will let you know how much it will cost to get more information about legal fees and billing from them.