Pay a flat fee for all services rendered, rather than an hourly arrangement with your lawyer.
Propose a creative contingency fee. A common contingency fee is 33 percent. This means that if you win your case, your lawyer would retain 33 percent of the settlement. If there's a high likelihood that you will prevail and recover a large amount, your lawyer may be more willing to accept less on his contingency fee.
Ask your lawyer to bill you at 6 minute intervals (.10 of an hour) instead of 15 minute intervals (.25 of an hour). If you have an hourly agreement with your attorney, he will keep track of all the work he and his office staff perform on your case. Attorneys bill their time in increments. Common increments are either .10 of an hour or .25 of an hour. The increment used can make a large difference on your monthly invoice. For example, if your attorney charges $200 per hour, 5 minutes of work will cost you either $20 or $50 depending on the increment agreed upon.
3. Choose an lawyer that is an expert in the specific area of law in which you need assistance. Lawyers are expected to research legal matters. However, if your attorney needs to research the issues because he's not an expert, it will be more time consuming and you will be charged more.
4. Cooperate with your lawyer. Your lawyer will need documents and information from you. Prompt responses to your lawyer's requests will prevent unnecessary reminder calls and letters that cost you additional fees.
Return all calls from your lawyer's office as soon as possible. Your attorney has many cases that he is working on. You will be charged fees every time your lawyerneeds to refresh his memory regarding your case, make reminder calls, or create reminder letters.
Offer to make copies and obtain documents or records yourself. You can do some of the work, which will reduce your legal costs.
5. Write out an agenda prior to any meeting you have with your lawyer. It will keep you on track regarding your questions and concerns, which will make the meeting shorter and less costly.
6. Take notes during every phone conference and meeting you have with your lawyer. Your matter may last several months or even years. By taking notes you can refer back to them, rather than contacting your lawyer to refresh your memory.
Create a journal. Keep the journal near the phone when you speak to your attorney and take the journal with you to legal meetings so you can take notes.
Date the journal entries so you know when the conversations with your attorney take place.
7. Ask clarifying questions when you talk to your lawyer. Don't wait until another time to clarify what your attorney is doing on your case. Waiting will create a situation in which your attorney will need to review the case again to answer your questions.
8. Maintain an organized file of your case. You will receive documents, court papers and letters from your lawyer's office. Keeping all the correspondence from your attorney's office in 1 central and organized place will prevent you from asking for copies of your file.
9. Determine what your goals are regarding your legal matter. Don't change your mind regarding what you want the outcome to be. Continued changes may require your lawyer to change the way he works on your case, which will cost more money. Your attorney will prioritize his work on your case based on the outcome you want to achieve. Most legal settlements are based on a series of compromises between the parties. The outcome you want is used by your attorney to negotiate and compromise to meet your desired conclusion.
10. Rely on your attorney for legal advice and not for emotional support. If you correspond with your lawyer by email, phone or in person every time you are upset because of how your legal matter is affecting your life, your attorney must respond to the correspondence. He will then charge you for the time it takes for him or his staff to respond, even though the correspondence isn't relevant to your legal issues.
11. Send emails to your lawyer only when necessary. Every time you send an email, you will be charged when someone spends time reading it, discussing it with office staff and replying to it.
