00:04
our firm charges a variety of ways for
00:07
services
00:08
of course we are under specific
00:11
ethical rules but those aside
00:14
which we comply with if it is a project
00:17
that we could do a flat fee
00:20
trust and will and estate planning
00:23
documents
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it might be a simple enough contract or
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maybe a client says how many
00:31
hours do you think it’s going to take
00:33
and i say well
00:34
let’s start it you know three hours
00:38
or a trust administration project
00:41
will try to quote a fee and say your fee
00:44
won’t exceed
00:45
and we’ll stick to that fee if on the
00:48
other hand we get into projects that are
00:51
much more
00:51
complex where we cannot
00:55
estimate litigation a audit
00:58
with irs or the franchise tax board
01:02
a complex business transaction
01:05
in those cases we’ll explain that we
01:07
cannot
01:08
quote them we may be able to say here’s
01:11
a typical range
01:13
and prior transactions uh similarly
01:18
situated to this one but we are always
01:21
mindful to push the work down to the
01:24
lowest
01:25
biller so a lot of times in a business
01:28
transaction a big bulk of the work can
01:32
be done by a paralegal
01:34
who bills much much lower than a lawyer
01:37
and they’re very very efficient then it
01:40
may be
01:40
that a lot of the work can be done by an
01:42
associate
01:44
who once again bills a lot less than say
01:47
a partner or someone with more
01:48
experience
01:50
and so that is how we operate often
01:53
however a partner
01:54
can answer a question in 10 minutes that
01:57
someone else may take two hours
01:59
so we are very mindful and then when we
02:02
get the bill
02:03
we go through and make sure that the
02:06
work performed
02:07
and the fees are appropriate for the
02:11
matter
02:12
and then if necessary give the client an
02:14
adjustment
02:15
although i think we’re very lucky in
02:18
that
02:19
clients comment that we are extremely
02:21
efficient
02:22
much less expensive than other
02:26
law firms and we get the job done right
02:28
so
02:30
no complaints about that