Yup.  We haven't seen a "perfect" billing model yet. 

Disclosure time:  Below are some things you may not like about fixed-fee billing:

1) Efficiency & experience leads to perceived inequity.  If the law firm can use technology and experience to turn around a project quickly, a client may not feel like they got all the "time" they paid for.  For example, if the attorney can answer a contract dispute question in 30 seconds, but it took 6 hours of research on a different case plus 3 years of law school to learn the answer in the first place, the client may think there's less value in that "quick" response because the client doesn't know the work that went into getting the knowledge originally. 
   
2) Add-Ons:  Just like with airlines, more "stuff" costs more.   Quicker turnaround times cost more.  More phone time than allotted in the fee costs more.  Super complex document review & drafting costs more.  Think of it like upgrades -- you pay for a basic level, but if your project requires more than basic level, it will cost more.  We'll tell you as soon as we know this is going to apply.    

3) Not Full Service:  Hourly billing models can essentially make the attorney available to the client all the time, anytime.  The client gets all the time and attention they need, and the attorney gets paid for their time.  With fixed-fee models, there's usually a cap on how much time is allowed (ex:  1 hour communications before the work is performed, and perhaps 30 minutes follow-up after the work is done).   We consider all of our fixed fee services "unbundled," which means the work is capped at exactly what's written in the engagement letter -- more work or additional services is a different engagement with a different price or treated as an "add-on."

If you're not comfortable with these, you can request an hourly model.  

Everybody has different preferences, and thanks to major investments in technology, we can handle different preferences pretty seamlessly. 

No problem!  Regardless of what we think are the benefits of a fixed-fee model, some clients still prefer to pay hourly, and that's just fine.

Our hourly rates are $300 and we bill in 0.1 (6-minute) increments.  Deposits are based on the anticipated amount of work, and start at $1500.

$300 per hour billed in 0.1 (6 minute) increments.  Deposits start at $1,500.

Most clients pay securely by credit card or e-check online through a link they receive in their e-mail. 

We can also accept checks or cash. 

Payment Plans: 

"Layaway" - if you need to make incremental payments.  For example, if your flat fee bill is $1500, our software can charge your credit card (into a trust account) $500 per month for 3 months, and notify our office at the end of the 3 months when the payment is complete.  Then work can begin. 

"Split Payments" between more than one person:   If you and your co-owner each want to pay 1/2 of the bill, you can do that on the payment screen -- just enter your "share" and a link will go separately to your co-owner for them to do the same. 

"Auto-Pay":  We can auto-bill your credit card on a monthly basis for your monthly subscription plan. 

For these payment options or to learn more, please email: teresa@harmonkennedy.com

The word "retainer" is often misused.  As for "retainers" that are paid to the firm just to be available to handle your work if and when it comes, we don't do that specifically. 

For monthly subscriptions, these can look like retainers.  However, the monthly subscription fee is paid at the same fee every month on a recurring basis.  It doesn't fluctuate based on what's "left" in any account. 

For flat fees, we charge the amount of the quoted flat fee, paid up front. 

For the few cases we do on an hourly basis, we charge an upfront deposit, which is held in a client trust account. A deposit is not a flat fee, and it's not a retainer and the deposit will probably need replenished from time to time. On many occasions, HK can complete a project for less than the deposit the client has already paid. In that case, refunds are issued within 15 days of file closing. Before signing an engagement agreement, we will discuss the amount of the deposit and how the deposit and billing process works. Deposits help HK keep fees low for clients because less administrative time is wasted trying to collect earned fees for completed work. Law firms often end up raising fees when old client invoices aren’t paid, and the deposit system helps avoid higher fees for everyone.

Because we don't do adversarial work -- there's nothing to "win."

“Pay if you win” cases are known as contingency fee cases. This means that the law firm accepts of the risk of you losing your case. In exchange, if you “win” any money from the other side, the law firm gets a much larger cut of the money because the firm is the one taking the risk and doing the work upfront without a guarantee of payment. This is not typical for transactions, because the law firm is not really hired to “win” anything, but to get something done.   

We generally do not accept "pay if you win" cases because we don't handle issues in dispute or that are headed to court. 

Yes - please use the Contact Us form below and ask for an "in-person" scheduling link. 
In-person meeting times have a more restrictive schedule and require the $300 consultation fee in advance.    Subsequent in-person meetings will also be hourly and at an additional fee (unless it's for signing estate planning documents).

Yes, with the caution that, depending on the quality of the documents you've found, it often costs more to review and revise than it does for us to just draft them in the first place. 

It depends on what you mean by "cheap."    Yes, it will absolutely cost you less up front to download online and fill in the blanks yourself.   

Here's why that's not always a great idea: 

1) Those forms rely on you to ensure they're legally valid and say what you need it to say... and not say things that could work against you later... and be compliant with the particular laws in your state... and properly describe what's included in your deal... and what's not included in your deal.... and what conditions apply to your deal... and to add the stuff that the form doesn't cover... you get it.    If you knew what it needed to say, you could have just written it yourself in the first place.   

2) Form contracts are almost never specific enough to actually "say what they need to say."    Most contract disputes deal with the details.  For example, if your template says "Joe will provide landscaping services and Mary will pay $xx..." the dispute will likely deal with something like whether Joe breached the contract by charging Mary extra for fertilizer, or Mary breached by asking for fertilizer and refusing to pay extra for it.   Your form needs to cover the details of what's likely to go wrong, and one-liners usually don't cut it.  

3) I've seen plenty of the "forms" contain stuff that could hurt the client in the future, and stuff that isn't even legally enforceable.   Sometimes, you're better off with no contract than with a bad one.  But, that's up to you to know.

4) I've seen clients buy forms for something that really has nothing to do with their goal -- internet companies will sell you anything you click on.   For example,  they'll surely sell you an independent contractor form when you have an employee.  Companies get in trouble quite a bit for that.   Just ask the IRS.   But, that's up to you to know. 

5) If the form puts you in hot water later, you're on your own.   If you don't use it right and get into a dispute or a lawsuit, you're on your own.  And the attorney fees are much more expensive than they ever would have been to just get it right the first time.   But that's up to you to know.

On one hand, yes, we sell this stuff.  But we've also had to fix it.  We've had to deal bad documents in court.  We've had to negotiate for Clients on bad documents with little or no leverage.  Clients really hate it when their $100,000 lawsuit today could have been avoided with an appropriate $1500 contract a few years ago.  They've lost money, lost time dealing with the problem, maybe lost some customer goodwill, and probably lost a business relationship.    That stuff can be salvageable upfront, but is nearly impossible once the dispute really sets in.     

 Some lawyers love to see online and DIY documents because it pretty much ensures future legal work to fix or litigate them, and that future work is way more expensive, so we get paid more!   

For example, you can certainly draft your own deed. You have a computer and you can find a form online from one of those “fill-in-the-blank” form companies for $19.95. You’ll probably “save” $200 or so doing it this way.

Do you want to know how much it costs to fix a bad deed?  Want to know how much it costs to go to court over ownership a few years down the road?  Want to know how much it will cost your kids or grand-kids to fix it a few decades from now.  We can't really tell you that one, but guess it will be more than $200. 

You probably won't know about any of these problems until you go to sell your property years down the road and find out that your deal is screwed up because you “saved” $200 a few years ago. Or maybe you didn’t effectively transfer the title at all and a creditor has now placed a lien on your property? Fixing the problem at this point could cost thousands, plus the sale of your property.  Ask us how we know. 

With almost anything in life, you get what you pay for -- If your problem is only a $19.95 problem if it goes downhill, then DIY may be a good fit. 

Nah.  If it's not business or estate planning, we probably won't do it.  It goes back to transparency. 

We very narrowly tailor what we do because our clients need it done well.. 

We don't dabble. 
We don't try to know everything about every type of law.   
We spend our time going "deep" into business law (and specifically business law as it relates to the events, food, and beverage industries), rather than learning a little bit about a lot of unrelated stuff.

If we do not feel like your case is something we can competently handle, we will tell you. 
For example, we will not take your custody or criminal case.  We probably won't take your landlord tenant dispute. 

It's not because we don't want to work with you -- it's because we care more about your needs than we do about making a sale. 

But we know other attorneys that do a great job in other areas of law, and are happy to provide you names if we know someone.  It doesn't hurt to ask.