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Law Firm Legal Fee Calculator

Estimate a matter fee under hourly, flat and capped arrangements, and compare the risk each carries.

Your numbers

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Result

Hourly, expected $12,300
Hourly, with overrun $15,150
Flat fee outcome for the firm $14,400
Capped outcome for the firm $15,150
Cheapest for the client Flat fee
At 40 hours the fee is $12,300, rising to $15,150 with a typical overrun. The flat fee of $14,400 transfers that risk to the firm. On these assumptions Flat fee costs the client least.

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. A flat fee moves the risk of overrun from client to firm, which is worth something to both and should be priced accordingly. Fee agreements must be in writing in many jurisdictions and for many matter types, and the rules on what may be charged and how it is communicated are specific.

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Questions

About this calculator

Should I quote flat fees?

Where the scope is genuinely predictable, clients prefer them and they remove billing friction entirely. Where scope is uncertain they transfer a real risk, which has to be priced into the number.

What is a capped fee?

Hourly billing with a ceiling. The client gets certainty about the worst case and pays less if the matter is straightforward. The firm carries the downside without the upside, so caps are usually set above the honest estimate.

The formula

hourly = hours x rate, with an overrun allowance; capped is the lower of hourly and the cap

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Estimating is the easy part

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