Our Fees

The legal fees charged by attorneys at Pfarr & Rethore, P.C. are always fair, reasonable and competitive. It is our normal practice to quote a flat fee for estate planning and corporate services when possible. The purpose of this explanation is to assist you in understanding how we determine what the fee will be in your particular matter.

After many years of experience, we believe that everything we create in this practice is built upon our extensive experience and years of schooling and post-doctorial education. Although the legal documents we prepare for you are critically important to you, what you are really paying for is our advice and counsel.

There are several reasons why we have chosen to quote clients a fixed fee for most of our legal work. First, it allows the client to avoid being surprised by an unexpected bill at the end of the engagement. Second, it allows the client the freedom to call us at any time with questions, which they might otherwise be reluctant to do if they were being hourly. Third, it allows the client to feel comfortable throughout the entire engagement knowing that the meter is turned off. Finally, it allows the client to compare the value of our overall services with that of other practitioners. With that in mind, the question then becomes how do we determine an appropriate fee for our services?

The fee we quote is based upon several factors:

1. The complexity of the engagement we are undertaking;
2. The amount of time we estimate:
3. The level of expertise required to complete your engagement with the highest quality;
4. The level of risk we will assume by undertaking a particular engagement;
5. What would be considered reasonable among other practitioners bringing similar expertise, experience, and service to the engagement;
6. Finally, our fee reflects ethical consideration for billing for professional services as set forth in the Rules of Professional Conduct promulgated by the various States in which we practice.

In the final analysis, we believe you are not simply asking us to draft legal documents for you, but looking for us to provide very focused legal advice, counseling and expertise. Over 100 years ago, English critic and social theorist John Ruskin made an important observation about payment for services: It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s also unwise to pay to little. When you pay too much you lose a little money that is all. When you pay to little, you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run. And, if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.

At Pfarr & Rethore, we always strive to deliver high quality client services at a reasonable cost. Our clients’ satisfaction with our fees results from their satisfaction with the value of our services and their experience. And satisfaction with our services produces a mutually productive, rewarding relationship.