Criminal, bankruptcy, and many estate planning lawyers have been
using flat fee billing for years.
Not exact matches
That means
using hourly
billing,
flat fees, contingent
fees, and hybrid arrangements to suit each matter best.
One advantage of
using the CosmoLex law office
billing program is that you can still track hours and expenses as unbillable even on
flat fee cases so you can determine if you are charging an appropriate rate.
You can also
use contingency, split
fee,
flat fee, task - based, and retainer
billing methods.
The Barreau argues that law firms
using the hourly
billing method are not serving the interests of the partnership with clients, that the firms should be doing a better job serving the interests of clients whether those interests lie in the efficiency of a fixed or
flat -
fee structure, or the predictability of a
fee that's conditional on outcome or duration.
When you track your time based on matter type
using time - and -
billing software, you can identify tasks that would make good candidates for a
flat -
fee service.
You can also
use contingency, split
fee,
flat fee, retainer, progress, and electronic task based
billing.
Using MyCase's streamlined legal
billing features, with the click of a button all unbilled time and expense entries, including
flat fee balances, are pulled into a legal invoice.
Flat fee billing is growing in
use and if your competitors start to offer that option, you risk losing significant business.
In my own mediation practice, I
billed on an hourly basis for the actual mediation sessions (which, in my opinion, could not and should not be fairly estimated in advance — except to give a likely range), but
used a
flat fee for drafting the resultant memorandum of understanding.
In our case, we
use the resources external investors provide to invest in technology and adopt alternative
billing structures, such as
flat fee billing.
I agree that firms
using flat fees focus their
bills and clients» attention on solutions rather than process but this strikes me as a marketing tactic rather than evidence of a material difference between services offered.
March 16, 2011 - Local governments across the country are increasingly instituting
flat -
fee structures
used to
bill drivers for police and fire departments» response to traffic accidents.
If you happen to
use more than what you've paid, Fi will
bill you the extra
fee at the said
flat rate of $ 10 / GB.