How do immigration lawyers bill legal fees?
A few immigration lawyers bill legal fees on an “hourly” basis and send monthly statements to clients informing them how many hours the lawyer claims to have worked during that month and demanding payment on a monthly basis. Of course, under this method the client can never be sure how much money she or he will end up paying for legal fees. Other immigration lawyers require an initial “retainer” with additional amounts (undetermined at the time the lawyer is hired) to be billed in the future, in the event that the case turns out to be more “difficult” than the lawyer originally expected. Under this method the client can never be sure whether the lawyer will claim at some later date that the case is more difficult than she or he had expected, and that even more money for legal fees will be necessary if the client wants the lawyer to stay on the case. At the Law Office of John R. Alcorn, our legal fees are billed only on a “flat fee” basis. This means that we determine what amount of mon
