November, 2002

A lawyer and his money. . . 

Attorneys are expensive.  You know what they charge you (the average lawyer charges $175 - $225 per hour) but do you know how they charge you?  You might be surprised.  Here are some good questions you may want to ask before opening your wallet:

1.          How do you break down your time? - Like your

         long-distance calling plan, most lawyers round

         up their time.  Only they do it to the nearest 10

         or 15 minutes.  Watch out for this.  Rounding off

         to the nearest 1/4 hour turns a 1 minute phone

         call into a 15 minute one, making that $200 p/hr

         lawyer a $3,000 p/hr one.  So ask them right out

         "What do you charge for a simple phone call?"

2.          What do you charge for other employees? -

         You may agree to pay $200 p/hr for the attorney.

          Did you also agree to pay that for the secretary

         or the paralegal who also works on your file?

3.          Who will be working on my case? - If you are

         paying someone based on her reputation, you do

         not want to have your case pushed off onto a

         junior attorney when you walk out the door.  Ask

         what the distribution of work is among the senior

         and junior attorneys of the firm.  You shouldn't

         pay for an under-experienced lawyer to prepare

         your case so that an under-prepared one can

         come in at the last minute to drop the ball in

         court.

4.          What experience do you have in this type of

         case? - A lawyer with 20 years experience is

         useless if he never worked on your particular

         type of case.  He will have to do some extensive

         research, which you will then be paying for.  So

         ask him: "What is your experience with this

         particular issue of mine?"

5.          What is your experience with the other

         Attorney?  Lawyers who get along with each

         other are more likely to reach an amicable

         solution to your case than lawyers who don't.  A

         quicker resolution means a smaller legal bill. 

         This doesn't mean you should find a lawyer who

         is buddies with the other one, but you should be

         aware of the situation and not to let egos &

         personalities run up your legal bill.

The importance of asking the above questions is to let the attorney know you are aware of these issues and that their standard practice may not be acceptable to you.  Call them on these during the initial interview and get their policy on it up front.   You could save a lot in the long run.