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Law firm invoice template for organizations

[Music] hi everyone welcome back to our channel today we're talking about how to understand the invoice you receive from your lawyer we'll cover what the different kinds of charges are that appear on an invoice how to pay your invoices with a retainer and what to expect if your file has been taken on contingency let's get started there are a few kinds of charges that appear on an invoice the first and most common is for the work that has been completed this could be charges at an hourly rate or a flat fee second there are likely disbursements these are charges that are added onto your invoice that are not specifically for time spent working on the file lastly there may be additional fees such as sales tax or a levy we'll look at each kind of charge in more detail most people are familiar with the idea of a billable hour this is the system lawyers use when they charge for the specific amount of time they spent working on your file this could be phone calls emails drafting documents in-person appointments or time spent in court the hour is broken down into fractions of about five minutes each whenever the lawyer does something on your file the time is recorded larger firms tend to use electronic timekeeping programs whereas smaller firms may keep handwritten timesheets the fraction of time spent is multiplied by the lawyer's hourly rate to reach a dollar amount for example if your lawyer has an hourly rate of 250 dollars and spent four minutes emailing with you the time is billed at 0.1 of an hour 0.1 hours times 250 dollars per hour equals 25 this kind of record of the actions taken should appear on your invoice with some detail as to what the action was for for example the invoice may say email from client re questions about settlement agreement and not just 0.1 hours the alternative to a billable hour is a flat rate this is a predetermined amount for a specific task such as applying for probate or drafting a will everything that's included in the fee should be listed so you know if there is something that would warrant an additional charge using a flat fee instead of billing by the hour is becoming more popular with many lawyers because clients feel like they know exactly what they'll be charged the flat fee method works best when the work to be done has a foreseeable end date or closure something like a real estate transaction works well with a flat fee because the buyer and seller both expect the transaction to take place fairly quickly and the sale has a closing date on the other hand services like litigation don't fit very well with a flat fee model because the issue could go on for years when a lawyer takes a file on contingency it means he or she will only bill the client if the matter is successful this means the billing depends on the results of the case if the case is not successful the client doesn't pay a bill except for the possibility of disbursements contingencies aren't used in all types of law it's not appropriate for something like writing wills because how would you determine whether or not the will is successful personal injury lawyers tend to use contingencies because those types of cases often end with a settlement on contingency the lawyer would take a percentage of the funds owed to their client under the settlement for example a lawyer takes the case on contingency and wins a settlement for the client the contingency agreement stated the lawyer may claim 30 percent as contingency fees on a settlement of 750 thousand dollars the lawyer will take 225 thousand the rest of the settlement gets paid to the client and the client doesn't have to pay anything out of pocket a contingency agreement does not include paying the fees of the other party if the client loses their case if costs are awarded against someone on a contingency agreement the client is still responsible for paying them disbursements are charges that are added to an invoice for something other than the work that has been completed often they include amounts that were paid to a third party on the client's behalf such as filing fees at the court or a registration fee at the land registry other common disbursements are for shipping or sending documents by registered mail if a document is served on another party using a process server that fee can be charged as a disbursement regardless of what the disbursement is for you should receive a copy of the receipt for the transaction without a receipt you aren't able to determine whether or not the amount you're being billed is correct the second type of disbursement is for printing and photocopying many offices charge per page for printing or copying documents this is usually a nominal amount such as 10 cents per page an alternative to charging per page is to have a set fee for disbursements for example at our office we have a flat fee of 20 for printing and binding court briefs but we don't charge anything for regular printing or photocopying if you aren't sure whether or not you'll be billed for this kind of disbursement ask before the work starts your invoice may also include a transaction levy this kind of levy applies in newfoundland and ontario and is charged by the provincial law society the law society is the governing body for lawyers in each province not all kinds of cases will be charged to levy in newfoundland there are three types of transactions that are subject to a levy civil real estate and personal property the chart on the left shows the current fees for the levies in newfoundland for civil cases such as applications for probate there is a levy of 70 this fee applies to each application for example if you apply for a probate of a will there will be a levy if you are then the executor of another will at the same time and that will goes through probate another levy will be charged for that estate even if you use the same lawyer keep in mind that your lawyer doesn't keep these funds the amounts are remitted to the law society the last type of additional fee you'll see on an invoice is sales tax businesses in canada are required to charge sales tax on goods and services the amount varies from one province from the next and might show up as pst provincial sales tax gst government sales tax or hst harmonize sales tax hst is the total of the pst plus the gst if taxes paid on a disbursement you should not be charged tax on the amount again for example say your invoice has a charge for 15.7 to send documents by registered mail your copy of the receipt from canada post shows that this includes hst the disbursement should show up on your lawyer's invoice as 15.75 and no tax should be charged on this amount as with all businesses the law firm doesn't keep the amounts collected for tax these amounts are paid to canada revenue agency so how does your bill get paid if you gave your lawyer a retainer giving a lawyer a retainer means you're providing them with a lump sum of money before the work starts and this money will be held in trust only to be used for expenses pertaining to your file this can be invoices or disbursements like court filing fees with a retainer you don't need to send your lawyer money for each invoice any amounts billed are taken directly from the sum you provided at the start the amount your lawyer asked for is based on how much work your lawyer thinks it will take to complete the file your retainer may be for the full amount or for enough to get started depending on your situation even though your money is already with the lawyer you should still receive an invoice funds can only be withdrawn from a retainer after the client has been billed if there's not enough money left in your retainer to cover the entire bill you'll be asked to pay the balance and likely to refill the retainer where to find us visit our website butlerwheelsindestates.com or check out our blog estatelawcanada.blogspot.ca thanks for watching if you found this video helpful be sure to click the like button and if you 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