We have moved to
a flat fee arrangement for our collaborative cases, meaning that the amount of work you do will have no impact on your case.
Followed by a statement from Arthur Klebanoff, chief executive of RosettaBooks LLC, on the value of making titles available via
a flat fee arrangement:
The court's decision thus neutralizes many of the benefits of the fixed fee, including administrative ease and shared risk (presumably, if one of the trigger events for withdrawal of the fee does not occur, the lawyer must refund the fee, which is not the case with a standard
flat fee arrangement).
We all seem to be moving toward value billing — but does
a flat fee arrangement impact service quality or the level of talent assigned to the work?
Any new solo has to determine whether to go with the billable hour,
a flat fee arrangement, or other alternative fee structures.
While not a retainer, moving from an hourly to
a flat fee arrangement will allow a lawyer to take in money upfront, with the potential to avoid trust accounting requirements as well.
Alternately, introducing
a flat fee arrangement can force firms to become more efficient and adopt technology in their practices in order to meet their revenue goals.
On the flip side, law firms can create efficiencies by working with several companies on targeted legal matters, increasing earning potential even with
flat fee arrangements.
But attorneys and firms using technology in their practice are better able to offer
flat fee arrangements.
For example, in my solo practice I try to offer my clients the certainty of
flat fee arrangements, but even with flat fees I still need to determine how much to charge for a project.
Many said they were using a combination of billable hours, RFPs, and
flat fee arrangements.
Unlike virtually every other major law firm operating in this sector, we are willing to consider alternative fee structures, including contingency, success fee and
flat fee arrangements, whenever we believe they would be mutually beneficial for us and our clients.
Flat fee arrangements are based on a number of determining factors, including the complexity of the legal issue, time investment (including any research and / or contract drafting, the extent of involvement of other parties (such as negotiations) and how well - organized the client is, including the level of tech savvy.
First, there are many self - employed young lawyers out in the market, many of whom are using sliding scale and
flat fee arrangements.
The AmLaw Daily contains a fascinating post, GCs, Law Firms And
Flat Fee Arrangements: A Matter Of Trust.
Through this experiment, we'll be able to test, for example, the efficacy of law firm panels, consolidated legal spend, and
flat fee arrangements.
Not exact matches
Whether it's a
flat fee for the «book publicity project upon launch»; a monthly retainer
arrangement; or one is hired for a variety of projects — from the initial book publishing date to ongoing projects related to the book over a period of time, a good publicist can do wonders... but they can't guarantee anything.
Barnes & Noble did not answer my questions about who is considered the publisher of the book (James Patterson, Patterson's traditional publisher Little Brown, or Barnes & Noble) and did not disclose how the financial
arrangement is working (whether Patterson is donating the work, receiving a
flat fee or receiving some kind of royalty based on the number of bundles sold).
The contract of that sort of
arrangement depends on the publisher but is some combination of a
flat fee and percentage of revenue.
Disclaimer: NerdWallet has entered into referral and advertising
arrangements with certain broker - dealers under which we receive compensation (in the form of
flat fees per qualifying action) when you click on links to our partner broker - dealers and / or submit an application or get approved for a brokerage account.
Generally we focus our attention on the mechanics of common structures, such as volume based discounting, contingency
arrangements,
flat fee billing, success
fees or secondments.
If you quote
flat fees or use subscriptions, unbundled services, or alternative
fee arrangements, you can stop tracking time altogether.
Still, they too, are putting pressure on law firms for lower
fees and many are pushing law firms to consider
flat fees and other alternative
fee arrangements.
After all, the only reason that a firm would want to turn down $ 1,000 an hour to bring clients over to a
flat -
fee arrangement is where the latter are resulting in effective rates in excess of $ 1,000 an hour.
That means using hourly billing,
flat fees, contingent
fees, and hybrid
arrangements to suit each matter best.
The latter often involves unpredictable negotiations and legal appearances, but transactional tax law is much more predictable and conducive to
flat -
fee arrangements.
While
flat fee and other non-hourly
arrangements have been commonplace in cut - and - dried legal areas like tax and estate planning, they're becoming more common across the practice areas of «Main Street» firms and attorneys.
If attorneys avail themselves of the advances in computer technology in the past decade or two, they can more easily come up with
flat fees or other alternative billing
arrangements — and continue to make a profit, Calloway says.
They are doing cost / benefit and risk analyses, undertaking RFPs and are demanding more affordable legal services and alternative
fee arrangements (e.g.,
flat or fixed
fees, blended rates, phased
fees,
fees with a collar1, value
fees, etc.).
Among AFAs, the survey reports the number one
fee arrangements is Discount (not a true alternative, but it is a valid fee arrangement), followed by Flat Fee, Portfolio and Capp
fee arrangements is Discount (not a true alternative, but it is a valid
fee arrangement), followed by Flat Fee, Portfolio and Capp
fee arrangement), followed by
Flat Fee, Portfolio and Capp
Fee, Portfolio and Capped.
Before you begin an ongoing relationship with outside counsel, broach the issue of
flat fees or incentivized
fee arrangements.
«At times, we have utilized alternative
fee arrangements — sometimes at our own initiative, sometimes at a client's request — but I wouldn't say there's a significant increase in the types of matters that are services using a
flat, block or alternative
fee arrangement.»
Typically New Law offers flexible
fee arrangements (
flat fees are common) or charge a much lower hourly rates due to lower overheads.
Serving a moderate - means client base, the ULG provides relatively simple, short - term legal services and offers
flat - rate
fee arrangements or hourly rates of $ 50 to $ 80 per hour, depending on client income.
Topics may include, for example, how to create a business plan, the key elements of an engagement letter, how to choose your niche, and how to decide between different billing
arrangements such as contingency
fees, hourly rates or
flat fees.
And in fact, in my own practice, I frequently offer
flat fees, capped estimates and alternative
fee arrangements.
We tailor our
fee arrangement to meet your needs, whether it's an hourly,
flat, contingent or hybrid relationship.
Alternate
fee arrangements and
flat fees are also a much talked - about change that technology could make viable.
You might consider a contingent -
fee or a
flat -
fee arrangement.
An article in Inside Counsel gives five strategies clients can use to prevent «runaway legal
fees,» claiming that although more «companies are moving to alternative
fee arrangements, seeking either fixed or
flat fees to cover legal work over a period of time,....
Even if you ditch the billable hour, you still have to bill your clients for your work (either through
flat fees or some other hybrid
arrangement).
Some
flat -
fee arrangements can actually be more lucrative than an hourly
arrangement, especially if the work is routine and predictable.
With
flat fees, capped
fees and other custom
arrangements, the firm is able to flexibly determine the type of representation you need.
With
flat fees, capped
fees and other custom
arrangements, the firm is able to flexibly determine the type of representation you need at a price point that makes sense.
Chrometa — Even with the trend towards
flat fees and other alternative billing
arrangements, the billable hour is not dead yet.
In addition to our standard hourly billing, we offer
flat fees, blended rates, partial contingency
arrangements and capped
fees.
And as Indiana family law attorney Sam Hasler describes in this comprehensive post, many family law attorneys have adopted
flat fee structures, finding that clients prefer these
arrangements because they result in more predictable legal
fees.
But now, tired of subsidizing law firm gravy trains, large corporate clients are forcing firms to offer alternative billing
arrangements, such as
flat fees, volume discounts and banning new associates from working on matters.
Our firm can make
arrangements with you to ensure that while paying our
flat -
fee representation you can still pay your back child support.
Even under
flat -
fee arrangements, it is still in a firm's interest to keep the cost of searches low.