This is my legal fee for an initial consultation. The fee is $100 for an initial office consultation. It is $60 for an initial phone consultation. In addition, if you request a phone consultation you must complete a questionnaire prior to our meeting. You must also pre-pay the $60 fee at the payment page on this website. We will send you an email with specific instructions and links. The questionnaires ask for basic information and can be completed quickly on your computer. We encourage clients to also complete the questionnaire even if you have scheduled an office consultation because it saves time which may then be used to evaluate your dispute.
The consultation is for 50 minutes, allowing me 10 minutes to make notes, set up your file, create billing codes, etc. It is half my hourly rate. Why do this? Make no mistake, there is a marketing angle to this: it often gets folks to look at my services in comparison to another attorney. But it is more than that. I approach a consultation as my one opportunity to provide you with a good understanding of your options, focus on what is important and develop a strategy to accomplish your goals. It is as much a counseling session as a legal session. During this time I attempt to get you to look at your dispute from different perspectives and how a neutral third party would view your facts and your damages. We will also evaluate strategies for resolving your dispute either on your own or with the assistance of a lawyer. But I do this one time. Then you must either hire me - at a flat or hourly fee - or look elsewhere.