(Last updated on February 15, 2016)
The Firm maintains that the best legal services are those that combine high quality and reasonable fees. Accordingly, the Firm strives to provide a superior work product in a cost-effective manner. The Firm does this by employing top-notch legal talent and keeping its overhead low.
The Firm takes a practical approach to working with its clients. The Firm generally works with an engagement letter in place which explains the scope of the representation and the fees and expenses to be charged in connection with that representation; it also helps ensure that the Firm’s clients understand their rights and responsibilities with regard to the Firm’s representation. For more information about a client’s rights and responsibilities, the Firm invites you to review the Statement of Client’s Rights and Statement of Client’s Responsibilities, which every client of the Firm must acknowledge that it has read and accepted the terms thereof prior to the Firm commencing work on the client’s behalf.
The Firm is sensitive to the financial issues individuals and companies face when they engage the services of legal counsel. The Firm strives to keep its clients’ legal costs proportionate to the benefits those clients receive through the representation.
Cost savings for the Firm’s clients are accomplished in three important ways. First, attorney time and paralegal time are typically billed in 0.10 increments, as opposed to 0.25 increments utilized by some firms. The Firm’s time-accounting can result in marked savings for clients.
Second, retainer fees, which are generally required in order for the Firm to begin working on a client’s behalf, are tailored to meet the client’s particular situation. The retainer fee is set at an amount that is directly proportional to the volume of work that is expected to be performed at the outset and can be adjusted up or down, depending on the client’s matter. This approach avoids a disproportionate sum of money being held in the client’s escrow account, which an individual client could otherwise be using for personal and household expenses and which a business client could otherwise be using for normal business operations.
Third, and most importantly, the Firm employs cost-sensitive billing techniques to assess the value to the client of the particular project undertaken by the Firm before remitting a billing statement to a client. All bills are carefully reviewed, and adjusted as appropriate, by the billing attorney responsible for a client’s matter before being sent to the client.
Flexible billing arrangements may be made to accommodate clients in certain circumstances. Among the types of flexible billing arrangements employed by the Firm are flat fees and caps on fees, including for some types of corporate matters, especially where an on-going relationship between the client and the Firm is anticipated. In addition, the Firm will, in limited circumstances, for some types of litigation, work on a partial, or full, contingency basis. Notably, for some not-for-profits and clients experiencing financial hardships, we may work on a pro bono basis or a combination of a pro bono and reduced-fee basis.
Project Attorneys working with the Firm on a client’s matter generally work within the same billing parameters, unless otherwise agreed to by the client.
The essence of a satisfactory and productive attorney-client relationship is good communication, but if a client disagrees with the amount of the Firm’s fees or expenses, or any other matter related to the Firm’s engagement, and an unresolvable dispute arises, the client may have the right, pursuant to Part 137 of the Rules of the Chief Administrator of the Courts of New York, at the client’s election, to seek arbitration, which would be binding upon both the client and the Firm.
For information about the Firm’s billing rates, or to learn more about the Firm’s billing policies, please contact the Firm or any of the Firm’s attorneys.