Rethinking Hourly Fees for Appeals and Civil Litigation
For a long time, the hourly fee has been the dominant fee arrangement for appeals and civil litigation lawsuits like the ones that I handle, most of which are not normally appropriate for contingency fees.
The problem with hourly fees is that you never know what the total fees will be until the appeal or civil litigation is over. That’s because it is impossible to predict at the outset how many hours it will take to complete. But the client should not have all the risk.
So, after more than 25 years at law firms who used this type of open-ended fee arrangement, I launched Brown Law LLC with the idea of giving clients some certainty in their legal fees.
Benefits of a Fee Cap
Though the written retainer agreement always defines the fee arrangement for a particular matter and controls over anything written here, for many cases I offer hourly rates with a fee cap setting the maximum amount that you would ever have to pay in fees. I normally require a retainer in fee cap representations, which I deposit to my trust account and deduct fees from it when I send you a bill. I discount the hourly rate based on the amount of the retainer deposited at the beginning of the fee cap representation.
If you deposit the full amount of the fee cap at the beginning of the representation, you get a 25% discount on the hourly rate.
If you can’t deposit the full amount of the fee cap at the beginning of the representation, you can make an agreed minimum deposit and take up to six months to deposit the balance of the fee cap. If you meet the six-month deadline, you get the fee cap and a 10% discount on the hourly rate, starting from the day within that six month period that you completed depositing the full amount of the fee cap. If you do not meet the six-month deadline, there is no fee cap or discount, and I reserve the right to seek the court’s permission to withdraw from representing you.
If you meet the conditions entitling you to a fee cap, services will continue even after you reach the fee cap. But since you have no financial obligation beyond the cap, those services really reduce the hourly rate of all the services already provided. In other words, you get an even greater discount. This gives me incentive to try to achieve your goal within the fee cap, which reduces any incentive to recommend services that will not advance you to your goal.
And, if your appeal or civil litigation concludes before your retainer deposit is exhausted, you get the unused portion back.
Of course, the client is responsible for paying court costs, and appeal and litigation expenses, which are in addition to the legal fees and not included in the legal fees.
Limited Scope Appearance
Relatively recent rule changes allow Connecticut lawyers to represent a client for a specific task, and the representation ends when the task is complete. This lets the clients who do not need, or cannot afford, full representation to get only the services they want, or can afford.
In situations that are appropriate for a limited scope representation, I try to offer a flat fee for the specific task. Before I begin work, you give me the flat fee to hold in my trust account until I earn it by completing the task.
If I cannot offer a flat fee for a limited scope representation, I will try to offer a capped hourly fee arrangement similar to what’s described above, but modified as appropriate for the particular limited scope representation.
As with all of my fee arrangements, the client is responsible for paying court costs, and appeal and litigation expenses, which are in addition to the legal fees and not included in the legal fees.
Contingency Fees
I will consider a contingency fee in appropriate appeals or litigations. If I take a matter on a contingency fee basis, the client is responsible for all court costs and expenses of litigation. If there is a recovery, all paid and unpaid court costs and expenses of the appeal or litigation will be deducted before calculating the fee.
