3. For Clients: Why Are Lawyers So Expensive?
10/10/22 • 26 min
In this episode directed primarily to clients of lawyers, Geneve helps to explain why lawyers and legal services always seem so expensive.
(A note from Geneve & Phyllis: we are not trying to justify that lawyers should be expensive, but this area is the biggest gap between lawyers and clients, so we need to look at this from both sides' perspectives.)
In this episode, Geneve & Phyllis first discuss common perceptions about lawyers and legal fees:
- They charge you for everything, even a phone call
- They charge everything based on hourly rate
- Hourly rate is all over the place – some lawyers are $300 per hour and some are $1,200 per hour
- They spend so many hours on everything (and how would clients know how many hours a lawyer should spend on a specific task?)
- Bottom-line: the perception is that lawyers are expensive (and that the charges ≠ value)!
Geneve explains how this perception is an industry problem:
- What lawyers do is often invisible and not easy to understand
- Lawyers are not salespeople – they're usually not good at explaining their value in exchange for what they charge
- Law firm structure – based on billable hours and have many ethical boundaries (this means little flexibility)
Next, Phyllis explains the different ways lawyers can charge you (there's more than one!) and how you can explore different options that fit your business model and that are within your lawyer's’ law firm and ethical parameters:
- Flat fee
- Hourly rate by hours worked (most common)
- Cap fee
- Contingency fee
Finally, Geneve and Phyllis discuss the value that lawyers do actually bring their clients, specifically, the 6 Layers of value that lawyers can bring their clients.
The 6 Layers of Value:
- Branding
- Insurance
- Strategies
- Representation (negotiation & representing you in the market place)
- Education
- Producing Documents (secretarial tasks)
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
Visit SeedJuraGroup.com
SeedJura on LinkedIn (company/seedjura/)
In this episode directed primarily to clients of lawyers, Geneve helps to explain why lawyers and legal services always seem so expensive.
(A note from Geneve & Phyllis: we are not trying to justify that lawyers should be expensive, but this area is the biggest gap between lawyers and clients, so we need to look at this from both sides' perspectives.)
In this episode, Geneve & Phyllis first discuss common perceptions about lawyers and legal fees:
- They charge you for everything, even a phone call
- They charge everything based on hourly rate
- Hourly rate is all over the place – some lawyers are $300 per hour and some are $1,200 per hour
- They spend so many hours on everything (and how would clients know how many hours a lawyer should spend on a specific task?)
- Bottom-line: the perception is that lawyers are expensive (and that the charges ≠ value)!
Geneve explains how this perception is an industry problem:
- What lawyers do is often invisible and not easy to understand
- Lawyers are not salespeople – they're usually not good at explaining their value in exchange for what they charge
- Law firm structure – based on billable hours and have many ethical boundaries (this means little flexibility)
Next, Phyllis explains the different ways lawyers can charge you (there's more than one!) and how you can explore different options that fit your business model and that are within your lawyer's’ law firm and ethical parameters:
- Flat fee
- Hourly rate by hours worked (most common)
- Cap fee
- Contingency fee
Finally, Geneve and Phyllis discuss the value that lawyers do actually bring their clients, specifically, the 6 Layers of value that lawyers can bring their clients.
The 6 Layers of Value:
- Branding
- Insurance
- Strategies
- Representation (negotiation & representing you in the market place)
- Education
- Producing Documents (secretarial tasks)
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
Visit SeedJuraGroup.com
SeedJura on LinkedIn (company/seedjura/)
Previous Episode
2. For Lawyers: Why Do Clients Need You?
In this episode directed primarily to lawyers, Phyllis discusses how to ensure your clients know why they need you.
Problems with today’s legal industry that causes clients to not understand why they need lawyers:
- "They should know our value” mentality
- Nobody actually knows what lawyers do
- Lawyers = messy and expensive (everything becomes more complicated)
Solutions:
- Know their business/background
- Understand what others in their business (with similar background) do and need in legal process
- Don’t be reactive (don’t just ask –what can we do for you?)
- Help them evaluate at what point they actually need lawyers (use: GMCD method - listen to EP01. For Clients: Why Do I Need Lawyers?)
- Give them clear steps based on their current business path and show them their legal needs from this point forward → have an honest discussion with them of when they actually need lawyers throughout those steps (investment)
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
Visit SeedJuraGroup.com
SeedJura on LinkedIn (company/seedjura/)
Next Episode
4. For Lawyers: Why Do Clients Always Complain About Legal Fees?
In this episode directed primarily towards lawyers, Phyllis helps illustrate lawyers' need to convey the value they bring to a situation, so that clients can better understand the price of lawyers' services.
Geneve and Phyllis highlight where there’s a disconnect between clients' and lawyers' perceptions of legal fees:
- Clients only see the price tag associated with lawyers and not the value and experience lawyers bring to the table
- Clients don’t feel like they’re given options with fees
Next, Geneve and Phyllis propose solutions on how lawyers can better communicate with their clients when discussing their fees:
- Lawyers need to understand the business and services of their clients so they can approach the conversation with insights into clients' specific legal needs
- To help lawyers better communicate their own value, Geneve reviews the Value Chart highlighted in EP03, which explains the many layers of value a lawyer can offer (a further explanation can be found in the the 3rd episode of SeedJura: Decoding Law ( "Why Are Lawyers So Expensive?")
- Understanding a client’s budget is essential when first establishing a client relationship
- Lawyers must communicate both expected fees and any cost overages that arise outside of the initially negotiated rate
Next Week's Episode: Geneve will lead a discussion aimed at clients that asks the question, "What Do Lawyers Actually Do?"
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
Visit SeedJuraGroup.com
SeedJura on LinkedIn (company/seedjura/)
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