Professional services
Law Firm Attorney Fee Calculator
Works an attorney fee for a matter, where the reasonableness factors are the real constraint.
Result
Business arithmetic for running a practice, not legal advice. Fee agreements, contingency limits, trust accounting and fee splitting are governed by the rules of professional conduct in your jurisdiction, and several of them are strict. Check the applicable rules before any of this affects a client agreement. Sliding scales are mandatory in several jurisdictions for particular matter types, especially medical malpractice and claims involving minors, and the tiers are set by statute or court rule rather than negotiation. Court approval of the fee is required in some categories regardless of what the agreement says.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Hours at the applicable rate plus disbursements, or the flat or percentage fee for the arrangement, giving the expected total. Where a fee might later be reviewed, by a court in a fee-shifting matter for instance, the factors that determine reasonableness become the operative constraint rather than the firm's own rate card.
What moves the number
- Hours and rate, or the agreed alternative basis.
- Complexity and the skill required.
- Customary charges in the locality for similar work.
- Results obtained, where that bears on the fee.
Where this one goes wrong
Where a fee may be subject to review, the record matters as much as the arithmetic: contemporaneous time entries with specific narratives support a fee under scrutiny and reconstructed block entries do not, regardless of whether the work was done. The reasonableness factors in your state's conduct rules, which include the time and labour required, the novelty and difficulty, customary local charges and the results obtained, are the framework a reviewer will apply.
Before you quote
- Keep contemporaneous, specific time records.
- Check the fee against your state's reasonableness factors.
- Document complexity and results where they support the fee.
Where the rules come from
Questions
About this calculator
What makes a fee reasonable?
Your state's conduct rules set the factors, typically including the time and labour required, the novelty and difficulty, customary local charges, and the results obtained. Those are the framework any reviewer applies, rather than the firm's own rate card.
Why do contemporaneous records matter for fees?
Because a fee under review is supported by specific entries made at the time and undermined by reconstructed blocks, regardless of whether the work was done. The record is what a reviewer sees, and it cannot be improved after the fact.
Can a court reduce an agreed fee?
In some circumstances, including fee-shifting matters and where reasonableness is challenged. That is why the reasonableness factors function as a real constraint rather than a guideline, and why documentation of complexity and results is worth keeping.
The formula
fee = each tier's portion of the recovery at that tier's rate, added together
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How to use this calculator
- Recovery ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $400,000.
- Rate on the first tier (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 33.33%.
- First tier up to ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $250,000.
- Rate on the second tier (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 25%.
- Second tier up to ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $500,000.
- Rate above that (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 20%.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to total fee, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Recovery | $400,000 |
| Rate on the first tier | 33.33% |
| First tier up to | $250,000 |
| Rate on the second tier | 25% |
| Second tier up to | $500,000 |
| Rate above that | 20% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Total fee main result | $120,825 |
| Effective rate | 30.21% |
| From the first tier | $83,325 |
| From the second tier | $37,500 |
| From the third tier | $0 |
| At a flat first-tier rate | $133,320 |
The fee is $120,825, an effective rate of 30.21% rather than the headline 33.33. A flat rate across the whole recovery would have been $133,320.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only recovery, this is what happens to total fee. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Recovery ($) | Total fee |
|---|---|
| $200,000 | $66,660 |
| $300,000 | $95,825 |
| $400,000 example above | $120,825 |
| $600,000 | $165,825 |
| $800,000 | $205,825 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Recovery ($)
- A money amount, starting at $400,000.
- Rate on the first tier (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 50, starting at 33.33%.
- First tier up to ($)
- A money amount, starting at $250,000.
- Rate on the second tier (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 50, starting at 25%.
- Second tier up to ($)
- A money amount, starting at $500,000.
- Rate above that (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 50, starting at 20%.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Total fee | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Effective rate | A percentage. |
| From the first tier | A money figure. |
| From the second tier | A money figure. |
| From the third tier | A money figure. |
| At a flat first-tier rate | A money figure. |
Keep going
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