HOURLY FEE AGREEMENTS

An hourly fee agreement is simply that; the client agrees to pay the attorney an hourly rate for his time or the time of other professionals he employs on behalf of the client.  These other employees include, but are not limited to:  associate attorneys, paralegals, investigators, and research assistants.  Normally, our secretaries and clerks are not billed but considered to be included in our “overhead”.  In exceptional situations, perhaps when a client has created an extremely tight deadline, the overtime rate for these support members may be charged.

Our hourly rates are disclosed in your fee agreement; and, we generally consider them to be confidential and would ask that you not share them with our competitors.

Hourly fees can be rather frightening.  In some matters, Kanthaka Law will agree to limit our fees to a “cap” or an amount which our fees will not exceed.  This occurs most frequently when you ask us to develop expertise in an area that is not within our usual scope of practice.  Its use ensures that you are not paying for a Kanthaka Law lawyer to “get smart” on a new to them area of the law.