Fixed fee arrangements: You're more likely to get this from a smaller firm. The more clients a lawyer gets, the less likely he or she is willing to accept a fix

Fixed fee arrangements: You're more likely to get this from a smaller firm. The more clients a lawyer gets, the less likely he or she is willing to accept a fixed fee model. As a lawyer, I can say the reason we're reluctant to do fixed fee models is that a substantial portion of how much time we spend on things is not within our control. We'll often find out in the middle of a deal that, for example, a Company signed a problematic agreement without telling us, and that we now have to spending time fixing that agreement. It's hard to built this cost into a fixed fee arrangement (especially if we haven't had any prior dealings with this client). As that time comes at the expense of servicing other clients, many lawyers are reluctant to go this route. That said, you should always ask for a ballpark estimate of how much any transaction will cost before going into it. This will give you leverage in negotiating the bill down if, for some reason, the bill ends up going over.