Billing Practices of Lawyers In Ontario


Sometimes a lawyer with a private practice suddenly becomes the head lawyer in a firm of a moderate size. That can happen, if a lawyer has one or more sons that elect to attend law school. In that case, the larger company might introduce a need for unexpected expenses.

Among both large firms and lawyers with a private practice, some charge a flat fee.

Lawyers that deal with wills, estate issues and the legal problems of corporations or holders of real estate normally follow this practice. The substantial fee covers the out-of-pocket expenses that a given lawyer might expect to pay out.

Some charge on an hourly basis

If a client hires a lawyer that charges according to the number of hours spent on the client’s case, then a second fee gets added to the amount determined by the hourly rate. It is called the retainer fee. The lawyer’s hourly rate does not increase or decrease as the lawyer puts in more and more hours. The size of the retainer fee usually reflects the level of the lawyer’s reputation. Yet that fact only holds true if you are not dealing with a large firm. In a large firm, the junior lawyers do a great deal of the investigative work.

The more experienced lawyers must devote much of their time to all the accumulated paperwork. That system copies the one in a research lab. There, the youngest researchers do the bench work, while the older scientists plow through the pile of papers at their desks. Sometimes you can recover some of the money that you have given to a lawyer with a high retainer fee. You might be able to meet up with people that could use that same lawyer’s services. If you recommend those services, you can expect to receive an equitable compensation.

Some charge a contingency fee

If you have chosen to hire a Personal Injury Lawyer in Lindsay that charges a contingency fee, then you should not need to pay that professional until you have received a settlement at the end of a lengthy period of negotiations. Understand, though, that part of the settlement payment will go toward covering the lawyer’s out-of-pocket expenses. In Ontario, settlement payments get used to cover HST. That can place an additional 13% on top of the lawyer’s original fee.