Kelly M. Davis & Associates

"A lawyer's time and advice are his stock in trade.” --- Abraham Lincoln

It's rare that a firm's billing practices set it apart from the competition. However, Kelly M. Davis & Associates’ billing practices are different for many reasons. Kelly M. Davis & Associates is concerned with providing quality legal work efficiently and at costs that are in keeping with the benefits gained or the losses avoided. We emphasize sound business management in our practice and willingly work with clients to provide flexible and innovative payment methods.

How Fees are Determined:

Fees are based on agreements made in advance of legal work performed. Kelly M. Davis & Associates strives to establish a fee payment process that meets the combined desires of the client and firm. The criteria that determines legal fees include: complexity of the case, attorney's years of experience, amount of attorney effort expended, results achieved and office overhead required to provide the efficient and timely results to which all clients are entitled. We will discuss our fees with you during your first consultation. In response to your needs, we often divide each phase of a project into discrete tasks and establish, in advance, fee range budgets for such tasks. This methodology is a useful and informative tool for cost management and allows us to continually evaluate the fiscal management of the case as your goals and objectives evolve.

Billing Arrangements:

Hourly Rate – the firm attorneys usually work on an hourly basis (charging for the time we spend at a stated rate per hour) and expect full monthly payment of my fees and expenses. Hourly attorney's fees can be expensive, and you may wish to look for another attorney to handle your matter on a contingency basis if you think you would be unable to pay as fees are incurred. We try to keep our rates affordable for small businesses and individuals. We will provide you with a general estimate of what we think the total fees will come to in your case.

Retainer – KMDA charges what is called a minimum retainer - an up front advance payment: a minimum fee for me to accept the case. Usually this retainer involves a portion which is refundable and a portion which is non-refundable. What that means is that if KMDA is successful in getting the case dismissed / settled early and before the attorney has spent all of the hours originally anticipated in calculating the retainer, you receive a refund for the remainder of the refundable retainer that remained unearned.

Billing Rate – Kelly M. Davis’ billing rate is $230 per hour and Associates’ billing rate is between $125-$150.00 an hour depending on the matter. KMDA also has an in house paralegal and a law clerk who will work on your case. The in house paralegal’s time is billed at the rate of $85 per hour. Law clerk time is billed at the rate of $25 per hour. While several people in this office will work on your case, KMDA assures you that it will not result in our billing for duplicate work.

Flat Fees - Occasionally KMDA will accept a case for a flat fee (i.e., basic wills and estate planning documents, basic probates, mechanic’s liens, construction contracts, corporate formation, etc.). That is that KMDA will agree to represent you from the beginning until the end of the case, cover all expenses which are reasonably anticipated, and regardless of the amount of court appearances, appeals in the middle of the case, or unforeseen developments, the fee remains the same.

Kelly M. Davis & Associates accepts Visa and MasterCard payments for retainers, flat fee payments and monthly payments.

Written Agreement

Our fee arrangement is set forth in a written agreement at the time we accept representation. Only when the client and KMDA has executed the Representation/Fee Agreement do we incur any obligations to each other. KMDA’s main goal is to insure that you understand the fee contract, and what is included. This mean that we encourage frank discussion. Often clients cannot afford my services. This is better to learn before the relationship begins, rather than later. When that is the case KMDA will try to match the client to a lawyer whose fee may be more within the client's budget.

Monthly Statements

The Firm issues monthly, computer-generated invoices that can be tailored to provide the degree of detail which you desire. In most situations, the invoice includes an itemized list of the work that was performed on your case that month, a list of all fees charged for said work, and a list of all expenses incurred by the client. The invoice also includes a breakdown of how much of the client’s retainer was used and whether or not there is a credit or a balance due. The finance manager and Kelly M. Davis review all computer-generated bills.

Our billing is under a system called “billable units,” standard in this business. Hours are divided into quarters, each being a billable unit. Therefore, the minimum time billed for any action on your case is ¼ hour. While your retainer agreement will provide minimum ¼ hour billing, everyone at Kelly M. Davis & Associates strives to bill in 6-minute increments whenever possible. We have found that this saves the client a great deal of money over time.

You are also encouraged to discuss questions of expenses and fees promptly and openly.

Out-of-pocket expenses

You will however, be responsible for our out-of-pocket expenses and charges for an investigator, outside paralegal, expert, travel expense, copying costs, recording or filing fees, court costs, witness fees and other extraordinary expenses if such expenses are incurred.

Unlike most law firms, we do not bill for "extras", such as occasional long distance calls, supplies, faxes and on-line legal research