It is important for clients to know about legal fees!  Many law firms charge a retainer fee.  A retainer fee is an amount paid to the law firm or attorney in order to retain them.  This fee is usually non-refundable, and the attorney gets to keep the retainer money no matter how much actual work they do on the case.  This is because a retainer fee is earned as soon as it is paid, even if the attorney did not work on the case yet.  The retainer fee compensates the attorney for not being able to accept other cases since they are retained by the retaining client. 

The Law Firm of Kristina L. Combs rarely charges a retainer fee, but, instead charges an advanced payment fee.  An advanced payment is money that is charged as soon as the client hires the firm.  This money goes into the client's trust account in order to fund the costs of the case.  Attorney fees, filing fees, and other fees are deducted from the client's trust account.  The client must keep a positive balance in their trust account throughout the case.  This is to ensure that the client's trust account can fund court costs and attorney fees, so that the attorney can continue working on the client's case.  In other words, unlike a retainer fee, the advanced payment actually goes towards the cost of the client's case!   

The Law Firm of Kristina L. Combs may charge retainer fees depending on the type of case.  If a retainer fee is required, this fee more than likely would be charged for businesses retaining the firm.  This is because the law firm may not be able to accept potential clients that are competing with the business that retained the law firm.  Please keep in mind that we cannot determine with certainty whether or not a retainer fee would be required until after the initial consultation since the consultation is used to get all the facts behind the client's legal issue and to determine their exact legal needs. 

Some law firms charge consult fees while others do not.  The law firms that do not charge consult fees are usually the larger firms.  This is because the larger firms normally do not have the attorney conduct the consultation.  Usually it is an intake specialist or paralegal who conducts the consultation in these firms.  The intake specialist or paralegal who conducts the consultation is normally trained to ask the right questions to gather the correct information in order to pass the information on to an attorney who can better determine the potential client's legal needs.  Some of these firms go through a consultation process where the potential client is not told until a week or two later whether or not the firm will take their case. 

The Law Firm of Kristina L. Combs normally charges a consult fee.  This is because the potential client will have their consultation with an attorney and not an intake specialist or paralegal.  This allows the firm to better assess the potential client's specific legal needs without delay.   

Filing fees are not the same as attorney fees.  Attorney fees are paid to the attorney for the time the attorney spends working on the case.  Filing fees are paid directly to the court. 

Like most law firms, The Law Firm of Kristina L. Combs does charge for traveling fees and traveling expenses.  Traveling fees compensate the attorney for the time they spend traveling.  Traveling expenses reimburse the attorney for gas, mileage, parking, and food while traveling.  Depending on the circumstances of the case and the distance of travel, travel expenses may also include reimbursement for hotel expenses.  Some fees may be waived or reduced, but it depends on the circumstances surrounding the individual case.      

Clients are charged for phone calls.  The Law Firm of Kristina L. Combs usually charges clients extra for calls they make to the attorney's cell phone, especially if made after hours.  Calls made to Attorney's cell phone are charged at a higher rate of $300 an hour, and they are not included in the Attorney Fees under a flat rate fee agreement or Attorney fees covered by insurance plans.     

The Law Firm of Kristina L. Combs does charge for in-office copies.  It usually depends on the amount of pages to be copied, but if charged, the cost is $.25 per page to be copied.  Copy expenses, which are expenses for making copies at the courthouse or other places, are charged. 

The Law Firm of Kristina L. Combs may be able to set the client up on a flat rate fee schedule in lieu of an hourly fee schedule.  The flat rate fee schedule charges the client a specific amount for attorney fees for the entire case, and the client knows the exact amount to pay for attorney fees prior to hiring the firm.  The flat rate does not include filing fees, traveling expenses, phone fees, calls to Attorney's personal cell phone, or other expenses (e.g., mailing expenses, service process fees, etc.).  The flat rate only covers the attorney fees. Calls to Attorney's personal cell phone is an additional cost, and is charged at $300 an hour in 30 minute increments.  The flat rate fee schedule is normally available in less complex cases where the amount of work can be reasonably be determined in advance.  It is not available to all clients, and is not available in the more complex cases where it is difficult to determine the amount of work in advance.  The "fee schedule" tab above provides potential client's with preliminary estimates of flat fee rates.  However, if the client is eligible for a flat rate fee agreement, the exact amount will not be determined until the client's initial consultation so the law firm can determine the individual client's legal needs.