2. Hourly Charge
Most of our fee arrangements are based on a client friendly flat fee, as described above. Therefore an hourly fee is rarely charged to a client. For certain unique cases, we calculate our fee by multiplying our US$150.00 hourly charge by the number of Attorney hours devoted to your case and our US$100.00 hourly charge by the number of Legal Assistant and/or Administrative hours devoted to your case. Attorneys and Legal Assistants bill in fifteen (15) minute increments. On occasion, we may increase our hourly charge thereby affecting your obligation to us. This increase typically occurs at the beginning of the calendar year and it will be reflected on your invoice for professional services rendered.
3. Advance Payment Retainer
Most of our fee arrangements are based on a client friendly flat fee, as described above. Therefore, an advance payment retainer is rarely charged to a client. For certain unique cases, we charge an Advance Payment Retainer Fee at the time we accept your case. The Advance Payment Retainer is an advance fee payment for some or all of the legal services to be rendered in our representation of you. The Advance Payment Retainer is a “prepayment” applied against our Attorneys’ US$150.00 hourly charge and our Legal Assistants’ US$100.00 hourly charge. The law firm spends down the Advance Payment Retainer as professional services are rendered. Attorneys and Legal Assistants bill in fifteen (15) minute increments. You will be required to replenish the Advance Payment Retainer when your Advance Payment Retainer has been depleted to a credit balance of $600.00 or less.
4. Contingency Fee
Contingent fees are when attorney fees are not paid unless your case meets the desired results–either settlement or trial victory. The fees are contingent on the outcome of your case. These fees are most common in personal injury cases.
Contingent fees put the client and attorney into a business-like relationship. The attorney wants you to recover as much as you can, because you are the client and we try our best to make you whole again. Also the more you recover, the more the attorney fees the firm makes.
Our Contingency fee is a type combination of flat fee and contingent fee. For certain Professional procedures, such as Personal Injury cases or debt collecting cases, our fee is a flat percentage of the amount of money collected for you. In other words, we are not paid until you collect. Our office may charge costs in anticipation of securing copies of your medical records, filing costs and related litigation expenses such as deposition costs, etc.
Please note that we may charge fees based on a combination of two or several of above methods. Now matter what it is, we will discuss with you and make both of us happy.
Consult our English speaking Shanghai lawyers for free preliminary consultation. Shanghai intellectual property lawyer reminds you that the law discussed above may change over time and may not apply to current situation when you read this blog.
