Unlike most lawyers, I offer fixed fees for most of the services I provide. Where my fixed fee exceeds $1,500 the fee is agreed in advance, for a pre-defined scope of work. Fixed fees apply to all types of legal services including family law and civil law court cases (with fixed fees agreed in advance for the different stages involved in those types of cases), advisory and transactional services (such as the administration of deceased estates and commercial leases) as well as for conveyancing and wills (for which I have traditionally charged fixed fees).

Hourly billing, which is used by the overwhelming majority of lawyers, has a number of inherent drawbacks including that it has a tendency to reward inefficiency, disincentivizes finalising a case as expeditiously as possible, creates a high degree of uncertainty with clients not knowing what their total legal costs will be, and creates a barrier to clients speaking or communicating freely with their lawyer when they are being charged for every phone call and email.

I calculate the fixed fee based on a combination of factors including the estimated time to complete the work, the complexity of the work involved and level of skill required, a general understanding of what other law practices would charge in total for similar work (that is, to arrive at a competitive fee), the usual hourly rate of lawyers being $400 or more, and the inherent value to my clients for the service I am providing.