Coming straight out of school, you may really want to land a job in the legal industry that helps you to get guidance and gain useful experience. It is generally understood in the legal industry that internships and sometimes taking lower rates are necessary for climbing the corporate ladder. Those who graduate from George Washington University and go on to enter the legal industry can be highly successful if they remain in the Washington, D.C. area, but ultimately, their credentials will still be highly attractive in other cities. Once you know what you are doing, become fully trusted by your clients and earn a reputation that precedes you, your rates should go up accordingly. It matters not whether you have an online masters in paralegal studies or a J.D. degree - every legal professional can and should increase their fees periodically. Here are some suggestions on how you can broach the topic of a rate increase with clients respectfully.
Letting Existing Clients Know That Your Fees Are Expected to Increase
Telling your clients at least 30 days in advance of an expected legal fee increase will help you to get paid on time, allow them to manage their funds, and give everyone involved a chance to talk about future changes. You may be inclined to give longstanding clients a bit of a break on fees or you may even elect to grandfather in the current rates that you are charging them. While you don’t need to give clients all of your reasons for increasing your legal fees, you might want to point out circumstantial changes such as moving your office to a more convenient location or needing to pay employees with an online paralegal degree more money after graduation.
Entertaining Counter Offers for Bulk Work Guarantees
The fees charged by legal professionals are reflective of their skills, but they also help to make slower work periods more manageable. When you have clients that can guarantee enough work to keep your office busy for a spell, a reduction in rates is nearly always advisable. The discounted rate that you offer to clients for bulk work doesn’t have to be substantial, but it should be enough to keep all of your bills paid and make your clients feel amply valued.
Evaluating Legal Fees on a Case-by-Case Basis
You might have a flat, standard hourly fee that you charge for case evaluations because looking at a new case that you are unfamiliar with requires you to start from scratch. Your practice may also offer clients options such as charging at cost for cases that only require paperwork to be filled out by your paralegal. If you feel that some clients should be charged more for their cases because they are complex or will require a lot of research, don’t budge on the rates that you quote. If you do, you will end up being overworked, under compensated, and you could have a difficult time getting attention from better-paying clients.
The rate that your charge clients should slowly increase during the few couple of years after you graduate from college. As you gain experience in the area of law that you practice in, you can start to compare your rates to those charged by other attorneys. Eventually, you will likely reach a cap, but you should never feel like you can’t ask for more.
