What is a reasonable hourly rate to ask for estate planning attorney contract work? I'm three years out of school, in Colorado if that matters. Minimal estate planning experience. General ballpark idea of what I could charge? I don't want to price myself out, but I also don't want to sell myself short.

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If you have minimal experience, you have the least amount of experience. You need to bill the least amount for your area. If you have minimal skills, how would you be selling yourself short?

Relative to other estate planning attorneys in your area you should be on the low end. That being said, 50/hour seems pretty low.

Perhaps a better tack to take would be task-based billing. This would involve you setting a price for each task instead of billing by the hour.

As you complete each task, you can keep track of the time it takes. You can even "bill" yourself by breaking down tasks into component parts.

With this self-billing days, you can teach how your skills and efficiency improve.

For the amount per task, I would discuss these matters with other estate planning practitioners in your area and then discount that amount by 15-25%.

Why the discount?
Because the firm ground for your services will need to expend time (money) in checking your work. As your skills increase, the discount can decrease.

When you have built your skills, you can then decide whether to keep with task-based billing or to determine an appropriate hourly rate.

The firm I'm working with wants to do an hourly rate. Is $50 an hour in the ballpark?

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