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Atricle Dump - 5 Best Practices for Controlling Legal Costs
If you perform lots of electronic docket research in federal, state, and local jurisdictions, you know how time consuming it can be to access the many courts around the country. Unless you are already familiar with a particular court’s online accessibility, finding quick, reliable, and inclusive fresh case data can be challenging.While some researchers collect dozens of bookmarks or rely upon their Intranet for most courts that they access, a more efficient method is a portal - a single site that maintains links to all available courts. A docket portal functions as a pathway for researchers to access case dockets in all available jurisdictions very quickly. However, as an alternative to accessing cases through a portal, researchers can also use vendor databases to locate docket information. These sites collect data from many jurisdictions, provide a single user interface,
Communicate with your attorney. You should clearly identify your goals to your attorney. It is not enough to simply present your attorney with a legal task but ensure that the attorney clearly understands your goal for the end result. In example, if you are in a partnership with another party and you hire a firm to sue the partner over a specific dispute, but never tell the firm that you want to dissolve the partnership you will spend money on litigation that will not net your desired outcome. Just as important as stating your goal is to maintain close communication. M
Mistakes happen, and it seems as if they pop up on bills quite frequently. How closely do you read your statements, receipts and bills? Do you take the time to review the actual charges, or do you simply assume that the bill is correct. Remember that when it comes to numbers, errors happen frequently.For example, one time my bank was even wrong on my statement. The computer added something incorrectly. Sometimes numbers get transposed when they are entered into the computer -- you have to double check.It is estimated that consumers lose billions making unnecessary overpayments on accounts each year. For example, cellular bills are notorious for being wrong.There are many things to look for when you are spending money and paying bills. The most common thing to happen when you are shopping is that you are charged the wrong price for an item. Make sure that if you b
Hire an attorney. One of the best ways to control legal costs is to seek legal expertise before there is a problem! Attorneys will help you to manage risk so that you avoid pitfalls that could cost you money. If you are setting up a corporation, or negotiating a large contract, it is worth it to involve an attorney experienced in that area. Your attorney will ensure that the terms minimize your exposure to risk. Even if you have contracted with a firm, or have in-house counsel it is important to communicate with them to avoid costly legal mistakes. Having a firm on retainer will mean nothing if you do not stay in communication with them about your business.
Hire the right attorney. This may seem counter-intuitive but many businesses believe that one firm can handle all of their legal needs. The most productive and cost efficient path is to hire the specific expertise you need. A firm that specializes in a particular area of the law will handle a much higher volume of those types of cases as opposed to a firm that handles those same cases on an occasional basis. In example, you have contracted with a large law firm for your business. You have a copyright issue that occurs and the firm has their in-house Corporate specialist handle the matter. This attorney has handled 6 copyright cases in the past 12 months. As such, it takes him 30 hours to research your case. Another firm that specializes in copyright issues handles 10 cases per day. This firm would be able to research and resolve your issue in 10 hours. In hiring the right attorney you have saved money and time. In another example, let’s assume that you have a neighbor that is an attorney who specializes in trademarks. You are planning to invest in a real estate deal and seek her advice. Although your neighbor is an attorney and as such has legal expertise this is not her area of practice. She could certainly research the issue and in the end would do a competent job. (This is for illustrative purposes only. In the real world your neighbor would explain to you that it is not her expertise and would offer to refer you to someone else.) However, it would be much more time and cost efficient to deal with an attorney whose area of expertise is real estate. Hiring the right attorney is much like choosing the right physician. If you have a heart problem you would see a cardiologist and not a podiatrist. While both are trained medical professionals they each have a specific area of expertise.
Negotiate the right fee structure. Law firms offer many types of billing arrangements beyond the traditional hourly billing schedule. You should explore the options with your attorney and decide on the best fee structure for your legal needs. Hourly billing is not to be avoided at all costs, it may be the best option for you, but it is important to have the discussion. You may decide upon a fixed fee agreement. This is similar to a project fee in that you and your attorney agree to a scope of work and agree on a flat fee for that work. This is helpful in that it enables you to budget your legal expense in advance. Contingent fees are another fee structure. In this arrangement, the legal fees are contingent upon the results. In most contingent fee structures there is also some type of fee, typically a limited number of hours at a reduced hourly rate. In example you would pay 10 hours at $200.00 per hour, but if you won your case, there would be an additional 10% of the settlement. Similar to a contingency fee, you and your attorney may agree upon a reduced hourly rate plus a bonus structure. The most important thing is to have the discussion and work with your attorney to define the fee structure that meets your needs.
In addition to negotiating the fee structure, you should also clearly define what is included in the fees and what would be considered an additional expense. In example, if your attorney has to meet you on location, will you pay for the transportation expense? Will you be charged for document services, such as process serving, title searches, or photocopying? If the firm outsources a portion of the work, how is that billing handled? You can avoid surprises and control your costs by clarifying these issues up front and negotiating how they will be handled.
Review your bills. We all know that we should carefully review every bill we receive and clarify any questionable item, but too often we perform a cursory review and write a check. In reviewing your legal bills, you will be analyzing two broad areas, accounting and performance. In reviewing the accounting you want to ensure that the bills accurately reflect the negotiated terms. Are there other expenses included on the bill? Are you being billed for supervisory, clerical or administrative tasks? Your bill can also help you to analyze your firm’s performance. How many hours are being spent on tasks? How does this compare to other firms? What is the cost per activity? Is time being spent and billed appropriately, i.e. is a senior partner doing the work of a paralegal? You are in control of your legal spend and it is important to identify the firm that meets your policies and has the best practices. The firm with the lowest billable hour may not be the most efficient, thus costing you more money in the long term. Without reviewing your bill and comparing you will not have the needed information to control your legal costs.
Communicate with your attorney. You should clearly identify your goals to your attorney. It is not enough to simply present your attorney with a legal task but ensure that the attorney clearly understands your goal for the end result. In example, if you are in a partnership with another party and you hire a firm to sue the partner over a specific dispute, but never tell the firm that you want to dissolve the partnership you will spend money on litigation that will not net your desired outcome. Just as important as stating your goal is to maintain close communication. M
How is it possible to do a direct marketing campaign without over spending?Direct marketing has been given a bad wrap with email marketing taking over the way products and services are presented to consumers and businesses. The truth of the matter is that we read most things in the mail more often than we read all the emails that come to the inbox. Lately, there has been a barrage of postcard mailers, some regular size and more in a larger size. It does not matter what size, most people tend to glance at the postcards if it catches their eye. Using postcards will certainly reduce the postal rate, however, even USPS has been diving into the postcard mania. Unique shapes are now postal friendly, take a look as www.usps.com and check out their new mailers. The postal rate may be a bit higher but the noticeability of the pieces is well worth the effort.As a consultant, you
Negotiate the right fee structure. Law firms offer many types of billing arrangements beyond the traditional hourly billing schedule. You should explore the options with your attorney and decide on the best fee structure for your legal needs. Hourly billing is not to be avoided at all costs, it may be the best option for you, but it is important to have the discussion. You may decide upon a fixed fee agreement. This is similar to a project fee in that you and your attorney agree to a scope of work and agree on a flat fee for that work. This is helpful in that it enables you to budget your legal expense in advance. Contingent fees are another fee structure. In this arrangement, the legal fees are contingent upon the results. In most contingent fee structures there is also some type of fee, typically a limited number of hours at a reduced hourly rate. In example you would pay 10 hours at $200.00 per hour, but if you won your case, there would be an additional 10% of the settlement. Similar to a contingency fee, you and your attorney may agree upon a reduced hourly rate plus a bonus structure. The most important thing is to have the discussion and work with your attorney to define the fee structure that meets your needs.
In addition to negotiating the fee structure, you should also clearly define what is included in the fees and what would be considered an additional expense. In example, if your attorney has to meet you on location, will you pay for the transportation expense? Will you be charged for document services, such as process serving, title searches, or photocopying? If the firm outsources a portion of the work, how is that billing handled? You can avoid surprises and control your costs by clarifying these issues up front and negotiating how they will be handled.
Review your bills. We all know that we should carefully review every bill we receive and clarify any questionable item, but too often we perform a cursory review and write a check. In reviewing your legal bills, you will be analyzing two broad areas, accounting and performance. In reviewing the accounting you want to ensure that the bills accurately reflect the negotiated terms. Are there other expenses included on the bill? Are you being billed for supervisory, clerical or administrative tasks? Your bill can also help you to analyze your firm’s performance. How many hours are being spent on tasks? How does this compare to other firms? What is the cost per activity? Is time being spent and billed appropriately, i.e. is a senior partner doing the work of a paralegal? You are in control of your legal spend and it is important to identify the firm that meets your policies and has the best practices. The firm with the lowest billable hour may not be the most efficient, thus costing you more money in the long term. Without reviewing your bill and comparing you will not have the needed information to control your legal costs.
Communicate with your attorney. You should clearly identify your goals to your attorney. It is not enough to simply present your attorney with a legal task but ensure that the attorney clearly understands your goal for the end result. In example, if you are in a partnership with another party and you hire a firm to sue the partner over a specific dispute, but never tell the firm that you want to dissolve the partnership you will spend money on litigation that will not net your desired outcome. Just as important as stating your goal is to maintain close communication. M
The seller of a time spread buys the nearer month option and sells the outer-month option in a one to one ratio. In order to profit from the sale of the time spread, the seller is looking basically for two things. First is a decrease in implied volatility. As volatility decreases, the out-month option (which the seller is short) loses money faster than the near month option (which the seller is long) because of the higher vega in the out month option. This will cause the spread to contract or lose value. That will be profitable for the time spread seller. Second, the stock can move. As stated before, a time spread is at its widest, most expensive point when it is at-the-money. A movement away from the strike in either direction decreases the value of the spread. So, as long as the stock moves in either
Negotiate the right fee structure. Law firms offer many types of billing arrangements beyond the traditional hourly billing schedule. You should explore the options with your attorney and decide on the best fee structure for your legal needs. Hourly billing is not to be avoided at all costs, it may be the best option for you, but it is important to have the discussion. You may decide upon a fixed fee agreement. This is similar to a project fee in that you and your attorney agree to a scope of work and agree on a flat fee for that work. This is helpful in that it enables you to budget your legal expense in advance. Contingent fees are another fee structure. In this arrangement, the legal fees are contingent upon the results. In most contingent fee structures there is also some type of fee, typically a limited number of hours at a reduced hourly rate. In example you would pay 10 hours at $200.00 per hour, but if you won your case, there would be an additional 10% of the settlement. Similar to a contingency fee, you and your attorney may agree upon a reduced hourly rate plus a bonus structure. The most important thing is to have the discussion and work with your attorney to define the fee structure that meets your needs.
In addition to negotiating the fee structure, you should also clearly define what is included in the fees and what would be considered an additional expense. In example, if your attorney has to meet you on location, will you pay for the transportation expense? Will you be charged for document services, such as process serving, title searches, or photocopying? If the firm outsources a portion of the work, how is that billing handled? You can avoid surprises and control your costs by clarifying these issues up front and negotiating how they will be handled.
Review your bills. We all know that we should carefully review every bill we receive and clarify any questionable item, but too often we perform a cursory review and write a check. In reviewing your legal bills, you will be analyzing two broad areas, accounting and performance. In reviewing the accounting you want to ensure that the bills accurately reflect the negotiated terms. Are there other expenses included on the bill? Are you being billed for supervisory, clerical or administrative tasks? Your bill can also help you to analyze your firm’s performance. How many hours are being spent on tasks? How does this compare to other firms? What is the cost per activity? Is time being spent and billed appropriately, i.e. is a senior partner doing the work of a paralegal? You are in control of your legal spend and it is important to identify the firm that meets your policies and has the best practices. The firm with the lowest billable hour may not be the most efficient, thus costing you more money in the long term. Without reviewing your bill and comparing you will not have the needed information to control your legal costs.
Communicate with your attorney. You should clearly identify your goals to your attorney. It is not enough to simply present your attorney with a legal task but ensure that the attorney clearly understands your goal for the end result. In example, if you are in a partnership with another party and you hire a firm to sue the partner over a specific dispute, but never tell the firm that you want to dissolve the partnership you will spend money on litigation that will not net your desired outcome. Just as important as stating your goal is to maintain close communication. M
Everybody wants a piece of your paycheck. I mean, doesn't it seem like as soon as you get paid, the money is gone before you can blink an eye? Car payment(s), rent or mortgage, insurances, phone bills, utility bills, credit card payments, and the list goes on and on.After you make all these payments, what are you left with? This way is very difficult (if not impossible) to pay off your debts. Now, let's be clear, the real reason is you are not planning, or at least, you are not planning properly. Therefore you are not saving."Hold it!" you say, "how could I possibly save if I'm not making enough money??". I hear you, don't worry. I've been there, so I know how it feels.There is a way: Treat savings just like a bill. Pay yourself first, no matter what happens.Open a savings account, even if you have one. This is no ordinary account; this is
In addition to negotiating the fee structure, you should also clearly define what is included in the fees and what would be considered an additional expense. In example, if your attorney has to meet you on location, will you pay for the transportation expense? Will you be charged for document services, such as process serving, title searches, or photocopying? If the firm outsources a portion of the work, how is that billing handled? You can avoid surprises and control your costs by clarifying these issues up front and negotiating how they will be handled.
Review your bills. We all know that we should carefully review every bill we receive and clarify any questionable item, but too often we perform a cursory review and write a check. In reviewing your legal bills, you will be analyzing two broad areas, accounting and performance. In reviewing the accounting you want to ensure that the bills accurately reflect the negotiated terms. Are there other expenses included on the bill? Are you being billed for supervisory, clerical or administrative tasks? Your bill can also help you to analyze your firm’s performance. How many hours are being spent on tasks? How does this compare to other firms? What is the cost per activity? Is time being spent and billed appropriately, i.e. is a senior partner doing the work of a paralegal? You are in control of your legal spend and it is important to identify the firm that meets your policies and has the best practices. The firm with the lowest billable hour may not be the most efficient, thus costing you more money in the long term. Without reviewing your bill and comparing you will not have the needed information to control your legal costs.
Communicate with your attorney. You should clearly identify your goals to your attorney. It is not enough to simply present your attorney with a legal task but ensure that the attorney clearly understands your goal for the end result. In example, if you are in a partnership with another party and you hire a firm to sue the partner over a specific dispute, but never tell the firm that you want to dissolve the partnership you will spend money on litigation that will not net your desired outcome. Just as important as stating your goal is to maintain close communication. M
Font selection is perhaps on of the biggest deciding factors in the success of any given design. Using CSS we have the ability to modify existing fonts significantly. Unfortunately, we're still limited to a small number of browser safe fonts.The sIFR typography module uses flash actionscripts and javascript to replace existing fonts with rich typography. It's an incredibly powerful tool. The module is free and available under a general public liscense.How does it work?sIFR downloads flash .swf files containing a custom font that is then held in the browser cache. This means you can effectively patch your user's browser with a new font that doesn't exist in their computer's font library. Crucially sIFR can handle dynamic content since the .swf is a font library, rather than a simple static flash movie.Degradation/Compatibilityincluded on the bill? Are you being billed for supervisory, clerical or administrative tasks? Your bill can also help you to analyze your firm’s performance. How many hours are being spent on tasks? How does this compare to other firms? What is the cost per activity? Is time being spent and billed appropriately, i.e. is a senior partner doing the work of a paralegal? You are in control of your legal spend and it is important to identify the firm that meets your policies and has the best practices. The firm with the lowest billable hour may not be the most efficient, thus costing you more money in the long term. Without reviewing your bill and comparing you will not have the needed information to control your legal costs.
Communicate with your attorney. You should clearly identify your goals to your attorney. It is not enough to simply present your attorney with a legal task but ensure that the attorney clearly understands your goal for the end result. In example, if you are in a partnership with another party and you hire a firm to sue the partner over a specific dispute, but never tell the firm that you want to dissolve the partnership you will spend money on litigation that will not net your desired outcome. Just as important as stating your goal is to maintain close communication. Monitor your attorney’s activities, stay in close contact either through phone calls, emails or regular meetings. You will keep the firm up to date on your business activities as well as ensure that your legal dollars are being wisely spent.
It is impossible for businesses to avoid legal expenses, but it is quite feasible to manage those expenses. The best practices outlined along with a clear legal strategy will help you to have a better relationship with your law firm as well as feel a lot better when you receive their bill!
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