Below are some answers to common questions about our legal services, including basic information about our billing policies and procedures. For matters not covered below, we encourage you to email us at any time. You may also contact us by phone during normal business hours and we are happy to personally respond to your questions.
Note that the use of the Internet for communications
with our law offices will not establish an attorney-client relationship. Messages
containing confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent online
unless specifically required by your attorney. The information you obtain
at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. It cannot take
the place of a legal consultation or legal analysis of your matter.
Legal Fees
Do you offer free consultation?
How do you charge?
Do you operate under a contingency fee basis?
Are fees due in advance?
What is hourly billing?
What is fixed or flat-fee billing?
Can you give me a quote to draft a certain contract or pleading?
Do you prefer monthly (or bi-monthly) retainer billing?
Forms of Payment
How do we pay you?
Are there other terms of payment?
Do you require a deposit for out-of-pocket expenses?
How often will I be billed?
What will I see on the statement?
When are statements payable?
What if I fail to make timely payments?
Business Hours and Place of Business
Are your law offices open
during weekends?
Can your law firm represent my business even though we are located
far from your offices?
Do you provide legal process outsourcing services?
Representation and Court Appearances
Can you guarantee me a certain
recovery?
Will my case have to go to court?
Our Process
What is the process?
How do we contact you?
Do you offer free consultation?
We generally offer free initial consultation
via email or phone. If you wish to personally meet with any of our lawyers,
we may be asking for an initial consultation fee.
When you discuss your legal matter with us through email, phone, or otherwise,
you are not committed to retain us in any way. Anything you tell us will be
held strictly confidential even if you choose not to employ our firm.
We tailor our billing structure according to
your needs and circumstances. During your free initial consultation via email
or telephone, we can provide you with an estimate of legal costs and a fee
structure that may best suit you. While we normally customize our retainer
agreement with you, please note that we do not provide "discounts"
or "rebates" due to existing rules on professional ethics. This
notwithstanding, our rates are competitive, affordable, and would almost always
lie beneath average market rates. Absent specific arrangements, we typically
structure our fees according to convention among larger firms.
Our billing practices can take on a combination of the following:
Before the rendition of services, we will ordinarily discuss with you the manner in which you will be charged. Unless otherwise agreed, you will be charged for all services on an hourly rate basis. This hourly rate reflects the expertise and experience of the lawyer or legal professional who will work with you.
Do you operate under a contingency fee basis?
Under a contingency fee arrangement, if you are unable to collect the amount you seek, your attorney will not charge a fee. Save for highly exceptional cases, regrettably we do not handle cases on a contingency fee basis.
Are fees due in advance?
In some cases, we ask for a deposit to cover
forthcoming legal fees. The amount of the deposit may vary from case to case.
As a rule of thumb, this deposit must be received by the firm before the commencement
of any work. Moreover, such deposit will normally be in the region of US$1000.
If this applies to you, such will be confirmed and explained to you in our
retainer letter. If you and your attorney have agreed upon a special arrangement
such as a fixed, lump sum per project or an hourly rate, then such special
arrangement will apply.
Advance money will be held in our client's account as your attorney works
on your case. If advance money is left in the client's account after applying
it to your final balances, the remaining amount will be returned to you.
This is our default billing structure. This means that absent any special arrangement, hourly rates apply to all time expended relative to your matter. This may include office conferences or court appearances, waiting time while on the field, time spent doing necessary research, and time spent with you on the telephone. Specifically, all services made in pursuit of your legal objective, and regardless of their nature, will be billed to the nearest tenths of an hour, that measure of time being the minimum charge for service.
Our hourly rates are occasionally negotiable,
though they already considerably fall below the market rates pertaining to
medium and large law firms offering comparable services.
Rates are subject to change without notice to non-clients. As to existing
clients, hourly rates may upon one month's notice be increased while the legal
matter is ongoing or pending litigation.
Normally we do not charge for secretarial time, but occasionally an attorney's secretary will perform services of a paralegal nature in connection with your case. You will be charged for those services at the secretary's established rate.
What is fixed or flat-fee billing?
A flat-fee billing normally refers to a fixed or lump sum payment for a turn-key package of legal services or a clearly defined portion thereof. For instance, if you wish to set up a corporation in a particular state, in place of the hourly rate a lawyer may require a fixed sum to include the preparation of all documents, filing of tax and other forms, and reasonable meeting times to advise the client on general matters regarding the set up of corporations and corporate housekeeping.
We may propose a flat-fee arrangement for any matter with the client. The setting of our flat fees bears little relation to our hourly rates. Hence, we do not quote you a mere estimate of the number of hours or total the hourly fees normally required to accomplish the legal task in question. As a rule of thumb, the greater the unpredictability of the time required for the execution of the bundle of legal tasks at hand, the less inclined our firm would be in entering into such flat-fee billing. Having said this, we are welcome to discuss with you the use of flat legal fees with any and all matters, but the proposed amount will take into account a host of business factors that bear on the arrangement. In these cases, the flat fee must be set high enough to compensate for the fact that there may be unforeseen circumstances that will take additional time and to compensate for the additional risk the attorney is taking on. In cases where such a fee arrangement makes sense, of course, clients can obtain predictability for their budgeting purposes.
Can you give me a quote to draft a certain contract or pleading?
Akin to a medical diagnosis, it will be difficult to provide precise legal solutions to unstated legal problems. 'How much for an employment contract for my employees?' ignores the possibility that an employment contract may not be needed. (For instance, an independent contractor agreement may be more suitable for your needs instead of an employment contract.) Similarly, 'How much for a motion for execution?' ignores the need to study the final judgment as well as the important milestones of your case and case records. It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine in advance your legal needs without first analyzing your legal situation. Oftentimes many clients ask for specific legal products or services for problems which remain misdiagnosed or underanalyzed. As with a doctor, some small leap of faith is required.
You must hire an attorney to analyze your circumstances and advise you; the component parts of the solution may have flat fees knowable in advance, but some legal work may additionally be recommended or even required to get where you want to go. After all, part if not most of what you are hiring the lawyer to do is to identify legal issues of which you might not be aware. Seen in this light, canvassing for legal fees in your area to compare prices for a LLC or a pleading may give you an idea of the generally prevailing fee level in that area, but the answers will rarely be precise, and others questions may be at least as useful.
Do you prefer monthly (or bi-monthly) retainer billing?
We prefer monthly retainer billing arrangements whenever we handle all routine legal work for a client during any covered period in lieu of flat fees for the same tasks. Most legal work consists of routine or mid-level tasks. Here, a retainer billing may be the most viable arrangement for both the lawyer and the client. For business purposes a system of retainer billing assures both our law offices and our clients of a good degree of predictability for revenue and budgeting purposes.
For our purposes, "routine tasks" do not include complex contracts, intellectual property matters, mergers and acquisitions, delicate tax advice, lawsuits, or other matters requiring time-intensive and time-sensitive services. It does cover teleconferences, meetings, phone calls, and email exchanges to obtain legal advice on business operations, periodic board meetings, corporate housekeeping, human resource management, review and preparation of simple contracts and documents, and other similar tasks.
Monthly retainer arrangements are best suited for long-term relationships and projects, but we will be happy to apply the same in other situations if only to serve the best interests of both the attorney and the client. The arrangement is flexible and can be terminated or modified at any time if either the attorney or the client believes that its continued adherence will turn out unfairly.
How do we pay you?
All billing statements will be in U.S. dollars, although you may make payments through any acceptable major currency provided that the net amount reflects normal currency adjustments and transfer fees. We accept payment by cash, bank draft, and PayPal.
Are there other terms of payment?
Your retainer letter issued by your attorney will explain in detail the terms of payment. In all cases, the terms and conditions found on this FAQs page are suggestive only. We welcome any questions or comments which you may have for us.
Do you require a deposit for out-of-pocket expenses?
In many cases we will require from you a deposit to cover all out-of-pocket costs and disbursements such as court fees, service and messenger fees, costs of transcripts, expert witness fees, other witness fees, and similar miscellaneous costs. If we waive or are silent on the requirement of a deposit, we may ask you to reimburse our advances in your billing statement.
Photocopies and transmission of faxes are billable at a rate per page to be specified in your retainer agreement. You will not be charged for ordinary local postage within the United States or the Philippines .
Unless otherwise arranged, you will be billed bi-monthly, or once every two weeks. Each statement covers the work done during the previous billing period.
What will I see on the statement?
The statement reflects the inclusive dates for the period of service covered and a reference number (e.g., Client Name | 12345-0000-001). The reference number is a code used by our Accounting Department for your account. Unless otherwise arranged, you will receive a separate statement for each separate matter. For relatively simple or basic arrangements, you will receive a universal statement intended to cover all matters.
The main section of the statement explains and itemizes the professional services provided by date. Services are billed in increments of one tenth (1/10) of an hour. The lower section of the statement will show a summary of charges for services and any expenses related to the matter. The final figure is the amount due. This figure will include, in addition to charges for the current period, any unpaid balance.
Some expense charges, such as telephone or express charges, may lag behind our normal billing cycle. Even if your matter is completed and you have received what you believe to be the final statement, our office may receive some miscellaneous charges that you will be billed for later.
Each statement is payable when you receive it. If an occasion should arise which may prevent you from making your full payment each month, we ask that you discuss it with us. You may contact your attorney or our Accounting Department to request for arrangements for installment payments. We are willing to work with you to accommodate your particular situation.
What if I fail to make timely payments?
If you fail to make payments as required by your retainer agreement, we will have the right to cease work on your behalf and, if there is a case in which we are counsel of record, to apply to the court to withdraw as your attorney. Our law firm is not required to collect any amount on your behalf, and it is your responsibility to pay the amount due in full.
Under a contingency fee arrangement, if you are unable to collect the amount you seek, your attorney will not charge a fee. Save for highly exceptional cases, regrettably we do not handle cases on a contingency fee basis.
Business Hours and Place of Business
Are your law offices open during weekends?
With respect to day-to-day operations, law offices are generally no different from other businesses and commercial enterprises. We follow normal business hours.
We do recognize that it can be very difficult for clients to break away from normal business during normal working hours. Our lawyers understand this and are prepared to meet with you during off-hours, on weekends, or at your business site as the situation may reasonably require.
Can your law firm represent my business even though we are located far
from your offices?
Over 90% of our business law practice does not require in-person appearances. We are an international full-service law firm with partners, affiliates, and associates licensed to practice law in several jurisdictions in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
While our main office is located in Metro Manila, Philippines, we have branch offices in New York and affiliates in other states and countries. The reach of our offices is global and expanding by the day. Our affiliates range from law firms, tax specialists, accountants, intellectual property experts, to solo practitioners who all hold personal ties with our firm. Please do not hesitate to ask for an updated list of our affiliates and the countries in which they practice.
Please note that appearances before courts and certain administrative agencies require your handling attorney to be licensed and be in good standing in the jurisdiction of that state court or agency. We can arrange for out-of-state court appearances, including litigation in other countries. We have facilities enabling us to file court papers in virtually any state in the United States and in many parts of Europe provided that there is a legal basis for choosing that venue or jurisdiction.
Do you provide legal process outsourcing services?
We are not a legal outsourcing service provider, although we advise a company which engages in that business. You may visit www.LegalStandard.biz for more details.
Representation and Court Appearances
Can you guarantee a certain recovery?
We do not guarantee the successful outcome of your case or the amount of costs and fees. As a general matter, even the most expert or experienced lawyers cannot guarantee results. Having said this, we can provide you with a legal assessment of your case, or a statement of the likelihood of success, given all knowable circumstances at the time of the assessment. Accompanying our legal assessment will be a statement of methods or methodologies used to arrive at that assessment.
Under a contingency fee arrangement, if you are unable to collect the amount you seek, your attorney will not charge a fee. Save for highly exceptional cases, regrettably we do not handle cases on a contingency fee basis.
Will my case have to go to court?
We have a policy of exerting a good faith effort to settle cases before proceeding to the courts. Contrary to public opinion and broadcast media, a great majority of cases are settled, including settlements after the suit is filed.
Only if the opposing party is unwilling to pay a fair amount on your claim, we will file suit. If your case has to be tried, we will work with you to make sure you are prepared for that process.
What is the process?
You may call our New York or Manila phone numbers and our staff will refer you to an attorney to make an initial assessment of your legal matter. In the alternative, you may send us an email explaining your situation and we will respond to you shortly.
Our contact information is as follows:
Manila | Main
Suite 22C Level 22 Tower One Ayala Triangle
Ayala Avenue, Makati City Philippines 1226
[e] info@TupazLaw.com | [T] +63 2 368 5775 | [F] +63 2 368 5656
