A Word About Billing...
Legal representation is very expensive and billing issues can be confusing to the uninitiated client. To understand the nature of legal billing, it is important to understand how attorneys earn money.
Clients hire attorneys for the purpose of learning their legal opinions, gaining their advice, and of course advocating on their behalf. Attorneys are typically compensated for providing these legal services based on an hourly fee that is then multiplied by the amount of time it takes to provide the service.
In short, attorneys make money by selling their time, and the more time that is expended on an issue the more expensive it becomes. To minimize your costs we utilize the services of legal assistants and outside research attorneys whenever possible because their hourly rates are significantly lower and it will save you money.
Billing Methods
At KLC we use a variety of different billing structures depending on the type of case and issues. Our billing methods range from fixed fee, hourly, contingency, or a blend. Regardless of billing method, including contingency fee cases, the client is responsible for paying all court costs and expenses. The overwhelming majority of our cases are based on an hourly fee.
The hourly fee amount is billed to our clients based on 1/10 of an hour increments. For example, .1 hours is equal to 6 minutes, .2 hours is equal to 12 minutes, etc. Telephone calls are an exception to this rule and they are initially billed at .15 hours (9 minutes) and then every 3 minutes thereafter. The reason is that many phone calls are 5 - 8 minutes in length and the billing time for telephone calls can become very onerous. Additionally most phone calls require follow up tasks that are not generally billed such as note taking, filing, calendaring of an event, coordinating with other attorneys or staff in the office, or emailing a client.
Tips For Reducing Legal Expenses
Employing legal representation is an expensive undertaking and we want to work with you to minimize your costs. Here are a few tips to keep in mind that will help reduce your bill:
1. Be patient. Resolving legal issues takes time and your attorney will contact you when something happens on your case.
2. Be timely. If you have waited until the deadline to resolve a legal issue, it will most certainly cost you more to have an attorney drop what they are doing and attempt to meet a last minute deadline.
3. Call the attorney less. Remember, attorneys generate their income based on the amount of time they sell, and if he or she is on the phone with you, then they are not working on other things. Instead, consider making a list of the issues you want to discuss and address them at the same time or send an email rather than always picking up the phone. Despite the foregoing, if an important issue arises about which your attorney is unaware, by all means place a call to your attorney.
4. Timely perform tasks. If your attorney requests you to perform a task, do it and do it in the time frame requested. Otherwise, the savings you may have realized from self performing certain tasks may be reduced by the attorney being required to accelerate his work to keep your matter up to date.
5. Review documents. Carefully review everything your attorney sends you. We will copy you on all relevant incoming and outgoing documents. If you're familiar with these documents, it will shorten our subsequent telephone conferences and the documents themselves may answer some of your questions.
6. Document Production. If your attorney asks you to provide him or her with documents for your case, it is very beneficial to categorically and chronologically organize these documents. It is very difficult and time consuming for an attorney to review your documents when they are not in date order and jumbled together.
Payment Due Dates
The vast majority of our clients are billed on a hourly basis and this means that the bill is due every month. While we will strive to keep your legal fees to a minimum, it is important that you pay your bill when it becomes due. Please note that our office accepts Visa and Master Card.
