Lawyer Fees - How Much is Too Much?

[Alex Kouramanis]

Greetings fellow BP members!

Hoping to get some opinions and advice here:

I just sold half an acre of land for $9,000.00 using a lawyer who was referred to my by an investor in my area. I assumed this would be a fairly simple transaction, without much work to be done on the part of the legal team. 

I was shocked however, to be handed a $1,340.00 fee after taxes for his services. This is about $800.00 above what I had expected, although I did not ask upfront about his fee structure. As a result, my gut reaction is to call and ask about how we arrived at this number. I mean, I dread the thought of I would be charged for a deal that is actually complicated and requires time to complete...

Should I have asked for fees upfront? Should I call and inquire, possibly hurting the relationship? Should I just eat this one and learn from it?

Thanks!

[Joel Owens]

On my commercial deals the attorneys tend to run 275 to 300 an hour for their services. They bill junior attorney at  200 an hour and paralegal at 80 an hour.

An expected scope of services is provided with estimate and a retainer is given.

A big mistake is not asking questions early on with an attorney. You want to know if they are a specialist or do a bunch of things. For example in the past one attorney a client tried to use was an estate attorney who dabbled in commercial real estate. They started making lot's of mistakes and the lenders attorney had to charge extra to do the job of the buyers attorney.

These days I only like to work with specialists. Also ask if an attorney does litigation or contracts only? If litigation I find they are tied up in court half the time and working on your situation takes double the time it should. When you are trying to get to a signed contract or close on something bigger this is a big deal.

I would just move on a clarify further for the future if you ever use them again. On a larger commercial deal legal from buyers attorney can be 10,000 to 20,000 depending on complexity.