For ODSago in Book Four: Ichi-no-Tani 2017

In a previous entry; a reader asked me about lawyer pay and billing and I started writing a note that would have been an aggressively long note. So here it is in Entry form and… if people read and have questions (or read and disagree) by all means!

Attorneys are typically paid in three different ways (there are more; but the standard are the 3 ways).

(1)One popular way is by percentage of judgement; called Contingency Fees. This can be an excellent plan for lawyers who handle large Business Mergers and/or massively lucrative litigation. One case could (conceivably) net you anywhere from $60,000 to $250,000.

(2) The next way is by percentage of hourly. (To my knowledge) Most private attorneys operate in this fashion. They will establish a set Hourly Rate (Public Appointments get $60 an hour; our firm charges private clients $200 an hour); and the attorneys are paid an agreed upon percentage of that rate. Typically the firm takes the lion’s share; as the firm pays for Malpractice Insurance, facilities, and (should a lawyer be terminated or leave) the firm is responsible for the case regardless. This is how I get paid. 50% for cases that I bring in on my own (an unheard of amount in a positive way; private firms rarely give 50%) and 15% for cases that I receive due to the Firm (a smaller amount, as many I know make 20 or 25%). Lately, as you could guess… I’ve been getting Court Appointments ($60 at 50%) or helping the firm ($200 at 50%). Either way; it breaks down to $30 an hour. The reason this way of billing can be… problematic… is that an attorney must (must) break down their time into manageable snippets. Different attorneys do different break downs; an honest attorney is going to do as small an amount as possible without going completely insane. Thus, some attorneys will charge per 15 minutes. I did this in law school for a project based on the attorney’s recommendation. Lesson: NEVER hire that attorney. Sure, billing by 15 minute increments makes things easier. .1 = 15 min; .2 = 30 min; .3= 45 min; 1 = hour. But… that is kind of tricksie bullshit. Because by doing 15 minute increments.... I have two 3 minute phone calls and file a criminal arraignment. All three of those actions were for different clients. I have to charge each client for my work on their file. Thus… in that situation… each client is billed a .1 = 15 minutes. In other words; based on Hourly Percentage Fee (let’s say if i billed on 15 minutes) I just charged 3 clients $50 (and made 22.50 off of the total $150) based on 3 actions for 3 clients. Some attorneys charge at the 10 minute. We charge on the 6 minute to keep it nice and Base-10. .1=6, .2=12, .3= 18, .4=24, .5=30, .6=36; .7=42; .8=48; .9=54; 1= 1 Hour.

But this means that my days… can be… problematic. Like today, I did a lot of work calling people, tracking down information, connecting the dots on a messed up procedure. And it translates into a lot of 0.1: Phone Call; 0.1= E-Mail; 0.1= Motion to Reduce.... and trust me… no matter how that might add up mentally or emotionally.... I completed 25 Attorney Actions today. Which equals 3.5 hours of billable work. Now, conceivably… I might be screwing up on billing. I might charge 0.1 when other attorneys would charge 0.3. After all, the saying goes, you thought about it before and after you did it, right? But that isn’t how I work. A client pays me for working their case. I pick up the phone, I call Opposing Counsel, I hang up the phone. If that takes 5 minutes and 38 seconds; I’m charging 0.1. Yeah… honesty and nobility may bankrupt me, lol.

(3) Just to finish the concept as a whole; the third way lawyers get paid is by Flat Fee. Apparently, we bill this way for our Immigration Clients (but I don’t know the specifics on that). A flat fee is often used by experienced transactional attorneys who know exactly how much time and cost would go into what they need to do. An Estate Lawyer may accept a flat fee to write a Will because they know precisely (or approximately) the amount of money to charge for that.

Of course, that is private attorney work. Government Attorneys (and I’m sure some Attorneys for the massive firms in the world) simply reap salaries or Hourly Wages due to the structure of that Corporation/Government.