Charges

Other lawyers sometimes ask me, "What's your hourly rate?"  But I don't have one!

I'm surprised that lawyers are still quoting hourly rates.  I suppose it's partly ingrained habit, and partly that their clients accept this practice.  I don't use them because I feel that solicitors' professional rules limit their use.  If a solicitor quotes an hourly rate he has to provide an estimate, and he is stuck with that estimate unless he has qualified it in some relevant way.

You might be asking yourself how I arrive at a reliable estimate if I don't use an hourly rate and don't even estimate the time needed.

The short answer is that it's difficult, but I do have some fairly reliable ways of estimating the amount of work needed: which is not, or not necessarily, the same as the amount of time needed.

My law firm clients will normally add their own mark-up when quoting their client for my work.  I am not necessarily involved in the calculation of the mark-up, which varies from firm to firm, and I don't always know what it is.  Often it's done the other way round, with me quoting the client and taking a commission on gross fees.

My estimates or quotes are typically for drafting (or reviewing and amending) particular agreements, then negotiating and finalising them.

There is one situation where I might quote a time charge, and that is for additional, unforeseen work outside my fixed price quote.  But even then I prefer to quote on some other basis that doesn't require me to record hours on a time sheet.