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Do you think lawyers overcharge for their services?

• PaulHoule 7y ago
  Depends on the lawyer. I've met lawyers who charge $350 for a handshake. I have met other lawyers who do a huge amount of work for a small amount of money in a context where I end up learning just how I don't know what I am doing and they do. I have copied consulting contracts out of Nolo Press books and had the other party refuse to sign them. I have had lawyers look at a contract and realize it didn't make any sense at all. I worked at a startup which had a high concentration of ex-lawyers who wanted to get into startup life and some of them were highly effective at dealing with huge clients, in fact they carried the business on their shoulders.
• CyberFonic 7y ago
  Depends on the law firm: If they have a spacious reception area with marble floors, huge reception desk, luxuriously appointed meeting room in a high rise mid-town office block and 20+ well connected partners -- then probably. If the lawyer has medium sized offices and lots of work in progress and a minimum of frills but not too shabby -- then most likely reasonable rates. In any case, ask for references and follow them up. Firms tend to specialise and you may want to find one who has experience with comparable startups.
• davismwfl 7y ago
  I think it is like any profession, there are good and bad ones and there are some that provide lots of value and others that make it their mission to gouge every client for every penny. The biggest lesson I have about attorneys in general is same advice I give people when they go to the doctor. Don't just blindly trust what they tell you, challenge them, educate yourself on the issues and if they won't discuss it with you intelligently, find someone else. In my personal experience I have found that when I find a good lawyer they are worth every penny they charge regardless of the rate. The best lawyer I ever had was a $450/hr partner in a smaller firm but he was spectacular and what he would bill me an hour for I had other lawyers in the past bill 1/2 day for, so his value was high but his quality was also stellar. On the face of it his original $5k retainer didn't feel like it was buying much, but after seeing how productive he was and how good he is, he's worth more than what he charges. He specializes in employment and contract employment law, nothing else, so a fairly narrow focus by many standards but still a big area IMO. Other times I have been gouged. One I hired to provide me with pros/cons of specific business legal structures I was contemplating for asset protection and separation of risks. She came back to me after charging $1,000 with a 1 paragraph memo that told me to do whatever cause they would all be equal in protection. I challenged her but learned she just was a moron when it came to understanding risk mitigation and asset protection even though she advertised it and was recommended by another lawyer. When I took her memo and my requests to a firm that had more of a reputation they took ~4 hours and gave me back a 5 page memo of recommendation based on pros/cons and had I followed the original advice I could've put a ton of stuff at risk. Just my 2 cents too, I don't think woman vs man, or old vs young makes a damn bit of difference overall. Experience does matter, but I wouldn't choose or disregard anyone over anything but bad recommendations or poor quality of work. One last point, as you asked about overcharging which I gave you some personal experiences around value etc. But something else I have seen many firms charging monthly retainers in the multiple thousands of dollars for startups to have an attorney on call. I do not subscribe to this nor recommend it in general. Yes you need to retain a solid attorney and firm to get them familiar with your business and help setup the initial contracts etc. But there is no way you need a $3000/month retainer when just starting out like I have seen happening in the past few years. Same with accounting, you don't need a $3000 accountant retainer every month to book 30 transactions. You can hire a consulting book keeper to do that work and have an accounting firm review quarterly for a lot less money. A caveat, if you are negotiating enterprise deals or dealing with a highly regulated business then the attorney on a monthly may well be necessary early on, even before you have real revenue.