A Word of Advice About Managing Legal Fees . . .

Because of the unpredictable nature of legal matters, legal fees can increase quickly. This is especially true if there is a pending lawsuit, which creates necessary actions with specific deadlines. Other times, professional services will not be necessary for several weeks or even months.

For example, if we file a lawsuit, the opposing party frequently seeks an automatic extension of time for him or her to file a response, such as an Answer and Counterclaims. In that situation, it could be 60 days before we receive those responses telling us what is actually contested. In some cases, we do not have any tasks to be done on our part during that 60 day time period because we are waiting for the other party’s response to be filed.

When the funds in your trust account are expended, we will ask you to replenish those funds as needed. Sometimes, clients don’t take this into account when they manage their finances or attempt to borrow funds. It is with that in mind, in an effort to prepare clients for this possibility, that we offer this advice.

Consider automatically making smaller contributions to your account as your case proceeds so you are not then asked to provide larger payments when the funds in your account are applied to your bill and the account is depleted. Any funds that remain in your account when your case is completed will be refunded to you. Please call us if you need assistance estimating your future billing.

(c) 2016