Budget Predictability - Fixed fees

We reject the premise that the best way to arrive at prices for our services is to use a time-based billing model (time x hourly rate = price). Billing by the hour tends to emphasize time spent, not the value provided. Nowhere is this more true than patent preparation and prosecution. Further, this misplaced emphasis discourages innovation, efficiency, and communication. Except for highly specialized services such as validity studies or consulting, for example, we prefer instead to base our prices on the value we provide our clients.  Thus, we use fixed fees.

First, hourly billing tends to place an attorneys interests into inherent conflict with those of the client. Billing by the hour can misalign the interests of an attorney and a client. In the extreme, this conflict can even be an obstacle to client relationship, discouraging communication (who wants to call their attorney while watching the clock because of the worry of whether the meter is running with every call). We choose instead to ally ourselves with our clients.

Second, hourly billing misplaces emphasis on the amount of time an attorney expends in representation, rather than on the effectiveness of that representation. Clients do not buy effort, and they do not buy hours. Make no mistake, we work hard for our clients to provide them with the most favorable results we can; clients measure fees based on the value of the services we provide, which can only be measured in conjunction with the results those services yield.

Third, hourly billing tends to be a significant source of uncertainty. Patent prosecution is a sufficiently complex endeavor without adding an additional layer of the cost of these services. Billing by the hour leads to price uncertainty (think about how you feel when you take your car to a mechanic for service!); and, from a free market perspective, hourly billing places the voluntary transaction risk entirely on the client. We believe that our pricing structure and rates provide our clients with an enhanced level of certainty of their legal costs.

In sum, we choose to avoid placing our economic interests and those of our clients into conflict. We choose instead to be on the same side as our clients, and that, we believe, requires something more inspired than a mere dollars times hours arrangement that rewards inefficiency. We want our clients to feel comfortable communicating with us without worrying about the clock.

As a result of our streamlined, clear pricing, our clients enjoy budget predictability and a more transparent attorney-client relationship. If this makes sense to you, we encourage you to contact us or explore this site further to learn about the legal services and service we offer.