There are no hard and fast rules regarding the legal fees charged by different lawyers.
Generally, the fee arrangement is flexible and nominal.
Broadly speaking, there are five basic types of fee structures followed.
They are generally used individually as per the specific legal advice rendered.
Flat or fixed fee is a prearranged fee that the client pays the lawyer on completion of the legal case.
The lawyers calculate this amount based on their experience about the time, skill and effort that the case would require.
Time based legal fees are calculated by multiplying the numbers of hours spent on the client?s case and charging accordingly.
This type of fee structure is generally used in business matters such as negotiating the purchase or sale of a business or property.
A contingency fee is worked out at some percentage of the monetary recovery obtained in a negotiation.
This is generally the fee decided in accidents and personal injury cases.
This enables the clients to retain a lawyer even if they are not in any position to pay upfront initially.
In some cases, the fees are statutory.
In social security disability cases, a set fee of 25% is generally charged on the recovery.
In cases such as residential real estate contracts and closings, the money involved determines the legal fee charged by the lawyer.
In these cases, though the work involved is almost the same, the lawyer charges more in case of higher priced houses.
These are asset- based fees.
Basic legal fees are and should be reasonable under all circumstances.
It is also advisable for the client to ensure that there is a written contract between him and the lawyer.
There is also a provision for legal procedure in case of any dispute between the client and the attorney over fees.