Retainer is a fixed sum of money chargeable on a monthly basis for retaining the services of the firm. This essentially covers all legal advice, opinions, reviewing of documents, holding meetings and discussions on referred matters up to a pre-agreed number of hours each month. Such an arrangement, however, does not cover litigation and/or arbitration matters; the fees for which may be agreed on a case-to-case basis. A retainership arrangement is normally beneficial to those clients who wish to have a continuing relationship with the firm and be able to seek legal advice on a day-to-day or frequent basis. Such a standby arrangement will ensure readily available legal support to our retainer clients.
The billing methodology for our legal consultancy services is usually time-based i.e. chargeable on an hourly basis. This would include, for instance, opinion/consultancy work, contractual drafting/vetting/negotiations, preparing legal documentation, legal correspondence/notices, ongoing implementation advice etc., or any other similar advisory work. Although time-based billing is the general norm, in certain circumstances, we may be willing to offer our clients a pre-agreed ‘fixed-fee’ arrangement. This would, however, depend on the complexity of the referred matter, the number of lawyers required to render assistance, the time needed to be spent thereon and other similar considerations.
A lump sum and fixed fee is normally quoted for such legal work (including court appearances, hearings before arbitrators, etc.). Our fees are assessed on a case-to-case basis, in light of the complexity of each case, the chances of success, amount of work involved and the forum/court (original / appellate) or tribunal in which a matter is to be adjudicated.
Miscellaneous expenses such as filing fees, AOR fees, court fees, stamp papers and disbursements (e.g. traveling, accommodation, telephone, fax, printing, photocopying, etc.) are chargeable at actuals.