How do you structure your initial consultations? Free? Flat fee? Hourly?

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Contingency cases are a free meeting. Everything else, I get paid for an hour’s worth of time.

likehelpful

Thanks.

I’m plaintiff’s side PI & all my consults are free. They oftentimes go for 60-90 minutes, which is a lot, but that allows me to get a ton of detail to see if the case is worth taking.

likehelpful

Thanks

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I represent lawyers and law firms as outside General Counsel and do free consults (let me know if you want to chat) BUT I always recommend my client law firms consider charging and waiving the fee if the prospect engages the firm.

likehelpful

That is a great option. Thank you.

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We do first 15 or 30 min free (it depends on the referral source). We also take a credit card to run in the event it goes over that amount of time. And we let them know right after how much time/expense it was, which is based on our hourly rate.

helpful

Thanks.

Hourly. And I practice in tax...

helpful

Thanks

Hourly.

helpful

Thanks

I started my own solo practice November 1st but I have free 30 min or 60 min consults for family law matters. In my area, that’s typical from what I’ve heard.

I’m in consumer bankruptcy. At least in my market, a free initial consultation is the norm, so that’s what I do. I can usually knock one out in 30 minutes or less, although I block off 60 minutes on my calendar in case a prospect has a complicated case. Also, this helps prevent getting stuck with back-to-back meetings.

A few of my competitors tried charging initial consultation fees that were credited toward a flat attorney fee for the case if the prospect retained. Apparently this didn’t work out too well, because I haven’t seen it in years now.

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