As a matter of professional responsibility, we believe
it important that our billing practices be fully understood, and
we therefore welcome questions concerning our fee arrangement at
the outset of each new client relationship. Our goal in each case
is to charge for our services in a manner that is fair to our client
and to our firm.
We seek to provide our legal services in a cost-effective
manner and, to that end, we try to use an appropriate combination
of junior and more senior attorneys and legal assistants on each
of our engagements. Our fees are based primarily upon the amount
of time devoted to a particular matter. For that purpose, we maintain
hourly rates as guidelines that we use in establishing our fees.
While the amount of time expended is often the most
important element of our charge for services, we do not establish
our fees strictly on an hourly rate basis. We believe it appropriate
that each bill be individually considered and that the ultimate charge
reflect factors in addition to the time expended. These factors may
include the results obtained, our efficiency in delivering services,
the novelty and difficulty of the issues involved, the time limitations
imposed by the client and by the circumstances, the extent to
which the engagement precludes other employment, the magnitude of
liabilities undertaken in the matter by our firm, as well as other
factors that are recognized by applicable rules of professional conduct
as appropriate for consideration in determining charges for legal
services.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss with our clients
alternative billing arrangements, such as fixed fees and success-oriented
fees. Such arrangements may be appropriate for a particular transaction
or situation. For example, we frequently use fixed-fee arrangements
in our estate planning area. We are happy to share our thinking
and our experiences concerning these and other alternative billing
arrangements. |
