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Flat Fees Often Save You Money,
Allow you to Budget Your Case Better,
& Even Do More in Your Case
What is a flat fee?
A flat fee is an up-front lump sum paid for your attorney's fees. Rather than paying a retainer and being billed for your attorney's fees at an hourly rate (Ms. Rockey's hourly rate is $250 per hour) that will increase based on the number of hours your attorney works on your case, a flat fee is an exact amount paid for the type of case you have. When you pay a flat fee, you don't get charged extra for any attorney time, for example, phone calls, emails, faxes, meetings, court cases that are postponed, extra hearings due to continuances, depositions, talking to witnesses, etc. You pay one rate up front for your attorney's time in the case.
What does a flat fee NOT cover?
A flat fee does not cover any out-of-pocket expenses ("litigation costs"). However, even if you pay an hourly rate, you will still typically pay all out-of-pocket expenses in addition to your attorney's fees. Most attorneys charge for all their time spent in the case, including: talking on the phone, reading and composing mail and email, conferences with other attorneys about your case, in-office conferences (and then you might be billed for the time of both / all attorneys in the firm), and even time thinking about your case or reviewing your file. Litigation costs generally include, but are not limited to: long distance telephone, mailing, courier, travel, mileage, hotel, rental car, copying, faxes, depositions, court reporter's fees, investigator's fees, expert witness fees, etc. Not all of these items are necessary in every case, but it is not unusual to be limited in what you can do by the amount of money is will cost, ie., your budget.
How can a flat fee with Ms. Rockey save me money, help me budget for my case, and allow me to do more than I might normally do in the case?
A flat fee can save you money in many ways. First, the flat fee is set up front by Ms. Rockey based on her experience and an estimate as to how much of her time it will take to finish your case at a minimum. As an example, a complex child custody case involving allegations of sexual abuse could easily cost you $50,000 in attorney's fees at an hourly rate. (See a study about the average costs of these cases by clicking here). However, Ms. Rockey handles these cases on a flat fee basis for an average of $20,000. That's a huge savings right up front. Further, when you know how much you are going to be spending on attorney's fees, then you can estimate and budget better for the litigation costs, many of which can be chosen by you and your attorney based upon your remaining litigation budget, your needs and your strategy. Moreover, if you are paying less and a finite amount for your attorney's fees, you might be able to do more in your case than you otherwise could do to increase the liklihood that you will be successful, like taking depositions or hiring a private investigator or an expert witness. For example, if you were to need to do depositions [out-of-court testimony under oath by the opposing party's witness(es) to help you discover what the witness will say in court, to lock them into their testimony, and to discover other information that might lead you to additional evidence], each deposition of a non-expert witness will probably cost an average of $1,000 (for the court reporter's time and the transcript of the deposition) if it takes a whole day (six hours). If you have to pay for your attorney's time on top of that at an hourly rate, not including time in advance preparing for the deposition, you could be spending another $2,000 easily.
Why would an attorney want to do a case for less money?
Ms. Rockey prefers working for flat fees rather than an hourly rate because it's less of a headache, much simpler, and it is guaranteed money up-front. A flat fee is paid all up front; it's earned all up front, and it's non-refundable. Even though it might be a lot less money in the end than the attorney could earn in the case by charging an hourly rate, the attorney benefits by being able to use the money right away (instant gratification), by not having to send out monthly bills (less time-consuming), and by not having to worry about chasing after clients who don't pay them (guaranteed money and less headaches). Thus, it's a win-win situation. The client generally saves a lot of money, and the attorney can focus more on doing the case rather than on the administrative business end of their practice.
Can you tell me more specifics about the litigation costs?
Again, the flat fee does NOT include any out-of-pocket costs ("litigation costs"). Ms. Rockey charges the following amounts for these litigation costs: long distance telephone (the actual cost), mailing (the actual cost), courier (the actual cost), travel (the client arranges and pays for the airline fees), mileage (If driving her own car, 49¢ per mile), hotel (the client arranges and pays for the hotel, generally one of the "Choice" hotels with an average rate of about $80 per night), rental car (the client arranges and pays for a rental car if Ms. Rockey does not drive her car), per diem when traveling more than an hour away from the office ($60 - $80 per calendar day), copying (25¢ per page), faxes [incoming: 25¢ per page; local outgoing no charge; long distance outgoing $1.00 each (1-5 pp) etc.]. The following litigation costs can only be estimated and are charged at the actual fee, often paid directly by the client: depositions (generally, $1,000 per deposition; add an additional $1500 if it is an expert deposition for the expert fee), court reporter's fees (see depositions; sometimes court reporters must also be hired for hearing and trial time), investigator's fees (varies), expert witness fees (Expert witnesses are most often psychologists, sometimes medical doctors; generally $1500 for a one day deposition and generally $1200 for a day in court); custody/pyschological evaluations (generally about $6,000, which is often split between the parties), guardians ad litem (generally paid at their normal attorney hourly rate, figure $250 per hour, usually split or pro-rated between the parties).
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