We Value Transparant Pricing

Your bill should not be a mystery. Our billing is understandable and transparent. We partner with our clients to ensure they always have the information necessary to make cost and benefit analysis throughout the entirety of the case.

Hourly Billing

In general, we bill our services on an hourly basis, with a minimum of 0.2 entry for work completed. We charge an upfront retainer, which is prepayment for legal fees. That retainer sits in our attorney trust account and is applied to your monthly bill. Our standard retainer for matters in litigation is $5,000.00. We request a lower retainer for matters that are not in litigation, and establish the lower amount based upon the anticipated work to be completed. If your case proceeds to trial, our attorneys will discuss with you an additional trial retainer based upon the estimated duration of the trial.

You will receive a statement the first week of each month detailing the work performed, how much you were charged, and how much you have left in trust. Our retainers are evergreen, which means they must be replenished when your trust balance is below $1,000.00. If you still have funds in trust at the conclusion of your case which have not been billed, those funds are returned to you.

We have various hourly rates for our attorneys and support staff. These rates are based upon the years of experience of the attorney and staff. Unlike other firms, we do not overstaff your matter. Instead, we assign tasks to the lowest available hourly rate, and our more senior attorneys review the work to ensure the best possible work product, at a reasonable rate.

The following are the hourly rates for our attorneys and staff:

• Senior Attorneys                   $340.00 – $400.00
• Associate Attorneys             $250.00 – $330.00
• Law Clerks                               $200.00
• Paralegals                                $150.00 – $190.00

Flat Rate Billing

In some instances, we will charge a flat rate for services. These include certain estate plans, real estate documents, bankruptcy files, and the drafting and review of antenuptial (prenup) and postnuptial agreements, and cohabitation agreements.

Contingency

Although rare, our firm will take certain matters on a contingency basis. This means that you do not pay for the attorney’s fees on a monthly basis but instead pay a percentage of sums recovered on your case. Our standard contingency fee is thirty-three percent. Clients are responsible for out-of-pocket expenses on the case, including but not limited to filing fees, witness fees, and experts.

In Forma Pauperis

Minnesota statute allows for the payment of attorney fees in guardianship and conservatorship matters if the person subject to the guardianship or conservatorship is indigent. If the court permits the matter to proceed in forma pauperis, we send our bill to the county in which the case is brought for payment. In contested cases, we charge clients the difference between our hourly rate and the hourly rate paid by the county.