Flat Fees for Fun and Profit

Lee Rosen – Divorce Discourse Joshua Lenon – Clio

Agenda

•  Flat Fees with Lee Rosen (40 minutes) – Covering the rules, ethics, and customer

perception behind flat fees

•  Riverview Law Case Study (10 minutes) – How one firm has excelled with flat fees

•  Questions (10 minutes)

Instructors

Joshua Lenon •  Lawyer, admitted in

New York •  Lawyer-in-Residence

for Clio

Lee Rosen •  Founder of Rosen Law

Firm •  Triathlete •  Blogger at Divorce

Discourse

Flat fees

f o r f u n a n d p r o f i t

Lee rosen presents :

lee rosen

Using flat fees billing in family law for over a decade.

Inspired by being charged an hourly rate by an IT professional

Being charged while sharing travel tips

That same week, I paid a fixed fee to a plumber for a quick repair.

Between a chatty, hourly-billing IT consultant & the fixed fee plumber,

which do you think I hired again?

w h y s w i t c h t o f l a t f e e s ?

upside for lawyers f l a t f e e s

u p s i d e f o r l a w y e r s

•  L A W Y E R S C A N F O C U S O N P R E M I U M W O R K

•  DRIVES AWAY UNPROFITABLE BUSINESS

•  CLIENTS FULLY INFORM LAWYERS WHEN NOT WORRIED ABOUT BILLING

•  E L I M I N A T E S C O L L E C T I O N S

•  ELIMINATES RECEIVABLES

upside for clients f l a t f e e s

u p s i d e f o r C l i e n t s

•  R E D U C E D A N X I E T Y

•  ABILITY TO MAKE INFORMED COST/BENEFIT DECISIONS

•  B E T T E R R E P R E S E N T A T I O N W H E N T H E Y T R U S T T H E I R L A W Y E R

the client reactions

T h e c l i e n t r e a c t i o n s

•  C L I E N T S L O V E I T

•  LESS STRESS WHEN CALL THEIR COUNSEL

•  L E S S W O R R Y A B O U T C O S T S

is there a downside?

D o w n s i d e s

•  FIRMS TAKE ON MORE RISK

•  U P F R O N T C O S T S C A N D E T E R S O M E C L I E N T S

•  REQUIRES REVIEW AND TWEAKING TO GET PRICE RIGHT

•  M A Y I M P A C T A V A I L A B L E L I N E S O F C R E D I T

•  REFUNDS REQUIRE SETTING ASIDE FUNDS IN ADVANCE

u p s i d e s

•  YOU GET PAID

•  O N L Y W O R K I N G W H E N Y O U G E T P A I D

•  YOU AVOID LENDING YOUR TIME AND HOPING ITS REPAID IN FEES

T h e S t a t e B a r

S t a t e b a r s

•  KNOW THE RULES FOR FLAT FEES AND REFUNDS

•  R E S E A R C H E T H I C S O P I N I O N S

•  CONSULT ETHICS HOTLINES

•  B E B O L D W I T H I N T H A T I N F O R M A T I O N

S e t t i n g y o u r f l a t f e e s

•  START FROM HISTORIC DATA

•  C O M P A R E A P P L E S T O A P P L E S

•  FIND MINIMUM AND AVERAGE COSTS PER TYPES OF MATTERS

•  A D D A P R E M I U M T O T H O S E A V E R A G E C O S T S

m a k i n g t h e t r a n s i t i o n

Explaining flat fees a c l i e n t s p e r s p e c t i v e

E x p l a i n i n g f l a t f e e s

•  TAKES SALESMANSHIP

•  E X P L A I N H O W I T W O R K S

•  EXPLAIN HOW IT REDUCES UNCERTAINTY

•  E X P L A I N W H Y Y O U D O I T

•  PUT IT IN WRITING

lessons learned

E x p l a i n i n g f l a t f e e s

•  SET FEES AFTER CONSULT, ACCOUNTING FOR VARIABLES

•  STAGE THE FEES – BEGINNING, MIDDLE, END

•  KEEP RECORDING TIME

•  ACCEPT THAT SOME REFUNDS WILL HAPPEN

•  KEEP RECALCULATING FLAT FEES AS YOU GET MORE DATA

c o m p e t i t i v e a d v a n t a g e

d i v o r c e d i s c o u r s e . c o m / f e e s

Thank you

d i v o r c e d i s c o u r s e . c o m

L e e r o s e n

r o s e n @ r o s e n . c o m

RIVERVIEW LAW CASE STUDY

Success

•  20-30% Cheaper than Traditional Law Firms •  Unbundled Services with Fixed Costs •  Frequent Reporting •  Only 45% of Staff are Lawyers •  Doubling of Employees since 2012

Customer Base

16#Months#to#09/30/2013#

Year#to#09/30/2013#

An4cipated#09/30/2014#

Small%&%medium%sized%business%

39%% 12%% 8%%

Li6ga6on%&%representa6on%

55%% 64%% 31%%

Large%corpora6ons%

6%% 24%% 61%%

Financial Rewards

•  Double-digit growth rates •  Two year’s old and breaking even in 2015 •  £1,944,761 in 2014 ($3,300,280)

Stats and the Flat Fee Whitepaper

hAp://gocl.io/flaFee%

Q U E S T I O N S