Legal Marketing & PR

New Orleans Solo Lists Fixed Fees for Writing Appellate Briefs

By Larry Bodine, Esq.

I thought this was a great idea – it’s from the From the Out-Of-The-Box Lawyering  blog:

"We’ve all heard about setting fixed fees for certain kinds of litigation. But this is the first time that I’ve seen a site in which an appellate lawyer lists his schedule of his fees for certain kinds of work.

"For instance, solo Harvey S. (“Tad”) Bartlett III the firm, The Bartlett Law Firm, APLC,  lists its fee for writing a principal brief on appeal at $7,750 and for writing both principal and reply briefs at $11,900.  The firm lists additional fixed fees for other services. However, the site adds that the firm “will consider blending a lower flat fee with a contingent-portion of the award in certain cases.”

In line with this, there is a January 29 article in the New York Times: “Billable Hours Giving Ground at Law Firms,” which discusses how some firms are using, for instance, value billing in litigation. In one situation, the firm set a fee, but that fee was to be and indeed was increased based on how much the firm saved its client over the amount the client feared losing if it lost.

Here's his fee schedule:

The Bartlett Law Firm, APLC, will never charge for an initial consultation, so please contact Tad Bartlett directly to discuss the possibility of representation. Once you decide to retain The Bartlett Law Firm, that representation will be subject to the following fees:

Flat-rate Appeals 

The Bartlett Law Firm believes that the value of appellate representation is enhanced by instilling predictability in the cost of that representation. What the client should pay for is the value of high-quality appellate representation, not how long it takes an attorney to put that representation together. Accordingly, the Bartlett Law Firm has put together the following schedule of flat-fees for various appellate representation tasks. No matter how much time it takes, the client receives the full value of the representation at a set, predictable cost. (When retained during litigation for briefing and/or argument of summary judgment motions or motions for judgment as a matter of law, the following fees will apply analogously).

 Wouldn't it be great if more lawyers took this approach to fees for clients?

Full post as published by Larry Bodine's LawMarketing Blog on February 23, 2009 (boomark / email).