How can I reduce the fees and costs?
You may reduce your total fee if you:
- Provide us with complete, accurate, and organized information and documentation.
- Tell your whole story, even if it is damaging or embarrassing, because your lawyer needs to consider all options. Anything you tell your lawyer is confidential.
- Find out if your expectations are reasonable. Talk to your lawyer about his or her legal opinion. Find out about your options and alternatives. Make sure you and your lawyer agree on your plans and priorities and that those priorities are likely to lead to the outcome you want.
- Try to make the right decisions the first time because changing your mind all the time can cost you money.
- Do not wait until the last minute because last minute rushes require extraordinary measures and costs.
- Respond promptly to requests, information approval, and execution of documents, as delays require follow up measures which take additional time.
- Call us as soon as questions arise.
- Please, remember that we provide an intangible product, legal services, and you may see only a small part of our efforts.
How are the lawyer’s fees determined?
Most of the cases are billed at the hourly rate of the attorney performing the work. We bill certain services on a flat fee basis only, including most real transactions and immigration matters. Boyer Law Firm has also been entering into legal risk-sharing arrangements with clients since its beginning. These arrangements are designed to accommodate clients who are interested in a fee structure other than standard hourly billing. In return for investing some or all of our standard fees in the client’s matter, or for taking on unusual fee or collection risk, we earn an agreed upon fee based on a set of specified criteria. In these arrangements, we share in both legal fee and legal outcome risk. Such arrangements are maintained in strict confidence.
What are Alternative Fee Arrangements?
Tailored/Special fee arrangements are agreements between Boyer Law Firm and a client to provide compensation to Boyer Law Firm based on a structure other than hourly billing. Such structures can take the form of contingency fees, fixed fees, value- or success-based fees or other alternatives to hourly fees appropriate under the circumstances of a specific matter. Special fee arrangements can be hybrids in which Boyer Law Firm receives a percentage of its hourly rate, with the remainder contingent on the outcome of the matter. If there is an unfavorable result, no further fees are paid. If there is a positive outcome, Boyer Law Firm might receive a multiple of the fees it has at risk. In addition, special fee arrangements can span more than one case. Boyer Law Firm is willing to negotiate special fee arrangements that provide a fixed contingency across a group of cases, or to handle a group of defense cases at a discount, in exchange for a contingency on plaintiffs’ cases that a client may have.
Why Do Clients Seek Alternative Fee Arrangements?
Clients now recognize the inherent benefits in shifting some of the legal fee risk to law firms. First and foremost, shifting the fee risk to the law firm aligns the law firm’s incentives with the client’s and reduces the risk to the client. In addition, clients who lack the financial resources to pursue important but expensive litigation are provided the opportunity to pursue such matters by having their law firm invest in the case alongside the client. In the absence of special fee agreements, such matters might never be pursued. Clients also value special fee agreements because they can provide predictable cash flow and budgeting. A special fee agreements with a fixed monthly fee or flat fee as an element is a prime example of a structure that guarantees certainty in legal expenditures. In surveying its clients, Boyer Law Firm has found that more and more clients are utilizing alternative fee arrangements and looking to firms, like Boyer Law Firm, that regularly provides such arrangements.
What are the Risk-Sharing Options?
Our special fee agreements have included partial contingent fee litigation matters, fixed fees in litigated and non-litigated matters, “hold backs” or any combination of risk/reward structures negotiated on a case-by-case basis with the client. Specific types of special fee agreements that Boyer Law Firm has entered into include:
- Hybrid Contingency Fee. A hybrid contingency fee arrangement is when Boyer Law Firm receives a portion of its hourly rate plus a smaller percentage of any recoveries in the lawsuit. Partial contingency fees reduce the cost of litigation to the client, while still aligning Boyer Law Firm’s incentives with the client and sharing the fee risk between Boyer Law Firm and the client. Partial contingency fees are most common in plaintiff cases seeking monetary or monetizable damages, however, they are not limited to such matters. Defense cases can also be structured as partial contingency fees with success contingent on agreed upon results or milestones being achieved.
- Fixed Fee. Fixed fee or flat fee arrangements are typically arrangements whereby Boyer Law Firm agrees to handle a matter for a sum certain or for a certain burn rate per month. Fixed fees can be subject to an overall cap paid up front, or they can be for a fixed amount per month without a cap. The specific nature of any fixed fee arrangement can be tailored to the nature of any given matter. Clients who desire budgeting certainty often find fixed fee arrangements attractive.
- Holdback/Success Fee. A holdback/success fee arrangement is similar to a partial contingency fee in that Boyer Law Firm is paid a portion of its fees up front, but has a portion withheld contingent upon success in the matter. If the matter is concluded successfully, Boyer Law Firm receives a multiple of the holdback or an agreed upon success fee held in trust. This structure is often used in defense cases or when the result sought in the matter is not monetary. For instance, Boyer Law Firm has used this type of arrangement in corporate transactions where success is the completion of an acquisition, sale or other transaction.
Do I need to pay a retainer?
We require that you pay a retainer, which we will use to pay our fees and any costs that may arise in the handling of your case. This retainer permits us to undertake the responsibility of your representation and prevents us from representing another party in the same matter. By payment of this retainer you are granting permission to the firm to pay our fees out of the retainer, based upon the value of the legal services delivered and the billing arrangements agreed upon between you and your lawyer.
