Like any professional, lawyers get paid for their expertise. However, with many lawyers charging hundreds of dollars per hour, legal bills can quickly add up. To avoid major sticker shock and fee disputes down the road, it helps to understand how your lawyer will charge you, what your bill will look like, and how to spot improper or questionable charges.

Understand How Your Lawyer Charges

Lawyers typically charge in one of a few ways. The most common method is billing by the hour. The lawyer keeps track of how much time is spent on your case and bills you for that time. Many lawyers bill in certain increments of time, such as six-minute increments. Examples of cases that are handled by the hour include criminal defense cases, contested divorce cases, business and real estate matters, and civil defense cases (any time you are being sued in court). (To learn more about hourly rates, see our article on how much lawyers typically charge.)

Another method of billing is a flat fee, such as where a lawyer charges $5,000 for a defined project. This is often used for relatively simple and routine legal matters, such as drafting a will, registering a trademark, or preparing a simple immigration application. Finally, a contingency fee is used in cases where it’s not feasible for the plaintiff to pay hourly fees—such as personal injury cases, workers’ compensation cases, and medical malpractice cases. In these cases, the lawyer will take a percentage of any award or settlement that you receive if you win your case.

Read Your Fee Agreement

It's important to thoroughly read your fee agreement and understand how your lawyer will be charging you. This is especially important if you will be charged by the hour. Pay particular attention to what the fee agreement says about:

• the hourly rates for work done by lawyers, paralegals, and assistants
• how often you will receive a bill
• when payment is due
• what costs you will be charged for (for example, faxes, copies, and travel expenses)
• whether you will be notified before your bill reaches a certain amount, and
• how disputes over legal bills will be handled.

Be sure to ask questions if you don’t understand any part of the fee agreement.

Review Your Legal Bills

Your lawyer should give you an itemized bill on a regular basis (for example, monthly) for work performed. Each item should be described in enough detail so that you understand what work was performed. Some lawyers are more thorough with their billing practices than others. Unfortunately, it’s not unheard of for lawyers to include short and generic descriptions—such as “reviewed documents” or “drafted motion.” Naturally, this will lead you to wonder: Which documents were reviewed, and which motion was drafted? You have every right to know what you are being charged for and why it was necessary. If you have any questions about an item in your bill, ask your lawyer to explain it.

Identify Improper Billing Practices

While most lawyers will charge you fairly and according to your fee agreement, there are less scrupulous lawyers who will try to maximize their profit at your expense. Here are some of the most common improper billing practices:

• Double billing: charging you and another client for the same time. For example, a lawyer might bill one client for travel time to attend a hearing and bill you for work done on the train ride there.
• Block billing: lumping in several different tasks in one line-item (for example, “Three hours: make phone call to opposing counsel to discuss settlement, perform legal research for summary judgment motion, and review documents produced by opposing counsel”).
• Multiple lawyers: billing you for more than one lawyer for the same task (for example, billing for two attorneys to attend a deposition, when one would clearly suffice).
• Not adjusting the hourly rate: charging legal rates for nonlegal work or charging senior-level rates for junior-level work. Your lawyer shouldn’t charge his or her normal rate when performing work that could be done by a non-lawyer (such as delivering documents or making copies). Likewise, a senior-level attorney should delegate to lower-level attorneys (who bill at lower rates) when possible.
• Training time: billing for training time for a new lawyer (for example, billing for four hours when it would take an established lawyer only two hours to complete a task).
• Overhead costs: you shouldn’t be directly paying for your lawyer’s fancy offices, internet service, or other costs of doing business (although these costs might be reflected in higher hourly rates).

If you suspect that your lawyer is charging you unfairly, you can dispute the bill. Your first step should be to talk to the lawyer and try to work it out informally. However, if that’s unsuccessful, you can try a more formal forum, such as fee arbitration through your local bar association. To learn more, see our article on how to dispute your bill for legal fees.