We Provide High-Quality Work that Is More Affordable than Larger Firms

At Griffith & Jacobson, we provide quality legal services at affordable prices. We often work with many large national and regional law firms. We find they are confident that we provide legal expertise to our clients that meet those firms’ high standards. But compare the charges of those firms with ours:

How We Do Business Compared to Large Law Firms

A typical large law firm (75 to more than 1,000 lawyers) charges rates of $500 to $1,000 per hour for its partners’ time spent on behalf of clients, and $300 to $500 per hour for associates’ time. Firms larger than Griffith & Jacobson will usually staff a project with two to four attorneys. This will include at least an associate who does the bulk of the detail work and a partner who supervises and deals with the client and the other side’s attorneys. If a more senior partner is the primary contact with the client, he will often delegate supervision of detail work to a junior partner. And if the work is substantial enough, a junior associate will prepare documents and do research together with and supervised by a senior associate.

At Griffith & Jacobson, an attorney handles most matters with minimum supervision by or delegation to another attorney. The lawyer you talk with will usually be the one who prepares documents and sees to the details. We consult with each other to make sure no important aspect of your case is overlooked, but we do not double bill for two people doing the same work.

Our current hourly rates are $275 to $350 for our partners and $200 to $260 for our associates. These rates coupled with our efficient staffing make our services very affordable for small and notso- small businesses.

Examples of Basic Projects

We do many projects regularly and for typical costs. For example, we often form corporations and limited liability companies for clients who want to set up new businesses. We have fairly standard charges for these projects. Organization of a simple new corporation involves gathering detailed information from our client and preparing and filing routine documents. This can be done in a few hours for approximately $1,000 (excluding filing fees). Similarly, we can organize a new limited liability company (slightly more complicated) for approximately $1,500 (excluding filing fees). And we can do a basic estate plan with a will and living trust for $1,500 (or $3,000 for a couple).

But even relatively simple projects may require additional work. If two or three people come to us and ask us to organize a new business for them, they often want certain agreements among themselves about conduct of the business and buying out a shareholder, member or partner who dies or otherwise leaves the business. This kind of agreement requires additional consultation and preparation of a customized document. We do this efficiently, but need to charge for the actual additional time involved. This may be a little or, if the clients’ agreements are complex, a lot. (If the clients are already in agreement, it may be only an additional $1,000.)

We Bill by the Hour, But Live Up to Our Estimates

As a client, you want to know up front what the legal costs will be for what you want to accomplish. We address your concerns in a couple of ways.

Engagement Letter

Before Griffith & Jacobson undertakes a project for a new client, we prepare an engagement letter that describes our agreement with you about the exact work we will do. The engagement letter estimates the time and fees involved and sets out our payment terms.

Advance Fee

For new work we require our new client to pay an advance fee, usually half of the expected charges for the project. Griffith & Jacobson bills for services monthly, and expects our clients to pay within 30 days after invoice. The advance fee is applied first. If an extended project grows in scope, we may also require an additional advance fee payment.

Updates

Griffith & Jacobson will notify you promptly if we believe project costs will exceed our estimate. This may happen if the scope of the project grows, because you request it or we discover new problems, or the party or lawyer on the other side makes unexpected business or document demands or expands negotiations or discovery and motions in a court case. We let you know what to expect in terms of time and money throughout our engagement. And by doing that, we strive to live up to our estimates.

Why Hourly Charges?

We usually charge by the hour because that is the fairest way to be paid for our services. When we work on your behalf with other parties and lawyers, the amount of time we need to spend is at least half determined by how efficient and cooperative the other side is. However, we are willing to work with our clients to standardize fees for routine matters. Griffith & Jacobson attorneys will always discuss our fees and charges with our clients openly.

Our focus at all times is to provide expert services to our clients efficiently and affordably.