Nowadays, it is very common for law firms to provide their clients with legal retainer services by packages. This form of retainer agreement allows clients to seek immediate consultation from the lawyers whenever they need to be advised with an hourly fee agreed upon in the agreement. This article will put forward comparison between using legal retainer services and using legal services on a case-by-case basis so that the clients can have an overview of this issue and thus, make informed choices on which services will be the most appropriate according to their personal needs and budget.
| Legal services on a case-by-case basis | Legal retainer services by packages | |
| Client | Clients of case-by-case legal services are usually either individuals or enterprises which had or are currently having specific legal problems that need attending to and resolving. | Clients of legal retainer services are usually enterprises in operation that need a legal services provider to readily assist them during the whole of their operation and business activities. |
| Agreement | – Case-by-case legal services agreements are signed separately and exclusively for each case, with its own fees and scope of services.
– The term of case-by-case legal services agreements typically fluctuates depending on how long each legal request would take to complete. An agreement will terminate once the work specified therein is done. |
Legal retainer services agreements are usually performed within a fixed period, which is typically calculated by years. The consulting hours and the hourly rate are determined and fixed right after when the agreement is signed. |
| Charging method | – The charged fee will be the whole services fee for the services provider to complete the requested tasks and deliver the ultimate product to the clients.
– Fees will be considered upon these following factors: the difficulty and complexity of the case; the estimated time to perform the tasks; the estimated number of personnel participating in the case. – Clients will only incur the fees when they decide to use the legal services. |
– The fee will be charged upon the total consulting hours, which shall be interpreted in many types of time including time spent on researching (if necessary) and drafting response opinions; Organizing meetings; preparing, drafting and editing files and documents; as well as contacting competent authorities.
– The fee will be calculated based on the actual hours needed to execute the clients’ legal requests. – This retainer services fee is a regular and fixed fee. Clients have to pay retainer fees to the attorneys even if they don’t use any legal service of the month. Some law firms may agree to reserve unused consulting hours for the following months. |
| Flexibility | – Law firms need time to study the cases and documents provided to them, assign each case to specific attorneys with apposite expertise to resolve the clients’ legal requests, as well as prepare a schedule for executing the job and deduce an appropriate price.
– It is required to have a time gap before the clients can receive replies/legal opinions because the Attorneys will only proceed to solve the case once both parties have agreed upon the services fee and term of services. |
– Each client will be assigned to a fixed team during the whole term of services so that the team can understand the client’s business activities, culture and demand, and as a result, the client will save time and do not have to provide the information again and again.
– The initiative of the clients will be ensured, and their legal problems will be attended to promptly because the send, receive and charging methods have already been established.
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Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for legal advice. Apolat Legal is a Vietnamese law firm with experience and capacity to advise on matters related to Legal Retainer. Please click here to learn more about our services and contact our lawyers in Vietnam for advice via email info@apolatlegal.com.
