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By Murray Gottheil | May 1, 2025
A young lawyer named Eve called me today about a fee dispute. She had quoted an hourly rate without providing an estimate and issued an interim bill for the time spent. The client did not think it should have cost that much but was willing to pay it. However, the client wanted the rest of the work done within her budget.
When I asked Eve about her discussions with the client, she told me she had asked what the client’s budget was and accepted the answer without further discussion.
If experienced in-house counsel or a sophisticated businessperson who regularly engages counsel to do the type of work that is being requested tells me what their legal budget is, I will pay respectful attention.
But if an inexperienced client announces their legal budget based on something they read somewhere, what their friends paid for legal services, or how much money they feel like spending, my reaction would be different.
If the number is reasonable, I would ensure that we agree about the project’s scope and then move forward.
However, if the number is low, I would proceed with caution. Unlike Eve, I learned not to be so much of a people pleaser that I would feel compelled to provide my services for some price that the client set without any discussion about how much work was required.
I don’t want to know what the client’s preferred budget is. I want to tell them what it will cost and ask them if that is acceptable to them. I am perfectly okay with their revising their damn budget to afford me or my recommending to them that they find someone cheaper.
It took me a while to learn that I had to be in control of what I am charged. But learn it I did. Mostly the hard way.
Murray is a happily retired lawyer who lives in the country, drives a pick-up truck, writes, teaches and mentors. You can reach him at [email protected] or see what he is up to at lawanddisorderinc.com.
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