Don’t hesitate to ask your lawyers to suggest alternative fee structures, such as flat fees, capped
fees and value-based fees. We lawyers will squirm about this for a while yet, but hourly charging
rates are becoming increasingly difficult to justify, especially if the amount of work involved is pretty
clear. Your lawyers should help you to agree costs up front so you can budget with accuracy. If this
is not feasible, they should ensure that you don’t have any nasty surprises by giving you a reliable
estimate, and keeping you posted about costs already run up. If they can’t be flexible without
offering a reasonable explanation, escalate it up to the managing partner, or look elsewhere.
Make sure you actively engage your lawyers, by telling them about your business and what your
objectives are. If they’ve got some context, and know what makes your business tick, they will be
more motivated to focus on a successful outcome. So they don’t take a sledgehammer to crack a
nut, make sure that your lawyers understand your attitude to risk: it’s unlikely to be the same as
theirs! Let them know if you don’t want a draft contract that has so many bells, whistles and trip
wires that it will seriously hack off your valued contact on the other side of the deal. Then they can
guide you about any inherent risks, so that your decision-making is informed, but you remain in the
driving seat. This type of proportionate approach will help to keep costs down too, of course, and
get you to where you need to be more quickly.
Lastly, be as open as you can: the more you build the relationship and gain their buy-in, the more
they will respond positively by tailoring their services to suit your needs. There is always a bit of a
learning curve to climb, so have a frank dialogue about what works well and what doesn’t. You may
be pleasantly surprised to find that your lawyers are more receptive to constructive feedback than
you might think: after all, their success totally depends on yours.
