Lawyers Are CHEATING You With These Hidden Fees | How to Spot Them

Описание: 3 ways Lawyers get clients to agree to pay unnecessary fees. Here's how to spot their unethical "tricks."

Chapters:
00:00 – How Lawyers Cheat Clients
00:26 – Quarter-Hour Billing
02:04 – Unclear Flat-fee Billing
03:51 – Minimum Appearance Fees
05:29 – Extra Tip!

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You’re getting cheated.

Even worse, you’re getting cheated by your own attorney. You’re getting cheated by the one person who was entrusted with all of your secrets.

Unfortunately, you won’t even realize you’re being cheated and it’s going to cost you THOUSANDS of dollars. As an attorney, I often testify in Court about what are (and aren’t) reasonable attorney’s fees.

Do you know what to watch out for so you can stop the bleeding? Or do you want to keep getting cheated?

Quarter-Hour Billing

Quarter-hour billing is one way that attorneys cheat their clients.
Under this approach, lawyers bill in 15-minute increments, regardless of the actual time spent on a task.

While this method is convenient for tracking time, it can lead to situations where clients pay substantially more time than the attorney actually worked.

For example, if an attorney reads an email or returns a brief call that takes only a couple of minutes, they may bill for a full 15-minute increment. If the attorney is billing at $300 per hour, then that 5-minute phone call costs you $75.

When multiplied across many brief tasks, you may end up paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars for time that wasn’t actually spent working.
An even more concerning practice occurs when attorneys combine multiple short tasks and round each one up to the nearest quarter-hour.

For instance, suppose a lawyer spends three minutes reading an email, 2 minutes drafting a quick response, and then five minutes on a follow-up phone call.

Although these tasks collectively took ten minutes, the quarter-hour billing approach would allow the attorney to bill 15 minutes for each task.

That results in you paying for 45 minutes of work that only took 10 minutes.
This practice, which I think is both unethical and manipulative, can significantly increase your bill. The industry standard is tenth of an hour increments, not quarter-hour increments. Tenth of an hour billing is 6-minute increments, not fifteen, which allows for more refinement.

If you’re considering an attorney who charges in quarter-hour increments, then RUN! This is a crooked attorney who will leave you and your family broke!

Unclear Flat-Fee Billing

Flat-fee billing is meant to simplify legal costs.
It is meant to provide you, the client, with a clear amount upfront for legal services.

I mean, what client doesn’t want to know the exact amount of legal fees before hiring an attorney? And what attorney doesn’t want to guarantee payment up front?

Unfortunately, some attorneys exploit the ambiguity that can accompany flat fee arrangements. When the scope of work is not clearly defined, you may end up paying for services you don’t need, or you may find yourself facing additional charges when the flat fee turns out to cover far less than you expected.

For example, if an attorney quotes a flat fee for handling a divorce case, you may assume that this fee covers everything from filing the paperwork to representing you in court at the final hearing.

However, without a clearly written outline of what the flat fee includes, you may later realize that court appearances, discovery, complex negotiations, or filing certain motions incur additional charges.

In cases like these, you may end up paying far more than you initially budgeted.

Additionally, some attorneys may impose a flat fee without adjusting for cases that are resolved quickly.

That results in you paying ridiculously more than you would have under an hourly billing arrangement.

To avoid getting cheated by your attorney, you should ask for a detailed, written breakdown of what the flat fee covers, and make sure your attorney signs it.

This Fee Agreement should specify any potential additional fees and clarify whether adjustments will be made if the case is resolved faster than expected.

This is best done by outlining the flat fee the attorney will be paid at each stage of the case and defining what those stages are.
If you’re considering an attorney who won’t put this in writing, you should get up and WALK AWAY!

Minimum Appearance Fees

Minimum appearance fees are another deceptive practice that attorneys use to cheat clients.

This type of fee is often charged for court appearances, depositions, or meetings, where attorneys bill you a minimum amount regardless of the time actually spent.

For instance, if an attorney has a minimum appearance fee of two hours for any hearing, but only spends 30 minutes in court....

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Warzone – Anno Domini Beats
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