Our Firm - Billing and Fees

Snyder & Snyder's objective is to always give its client as much value as possible for the fees charged. A billing statement is prepared at the end of each month for each client which summarizes the hours spent performing the services, the charges incurred for the provision of legal services, and the charges incurred as a result of our payment of any ancillary filing and other costs.

The legal fees charged by Snyder & Snyder are based on the time, expertise and experience required for each legal project. Snyder & Snyder strives to efficiently staff each legal matter by insuring that each component part of a legal project is assigned to an attorney best suited to handle such part or project when considering the attorney's experience and billing rate. Thus, Snyder & Snyder's internal processes serve to insulate its clients from the added financial costs resulting from having layers of associates and junior partners reviewing one another's work and from having senior partners billing clients at their higher hourly rate when such service could have as easily been handled by one of our attorneys with a lower hourly billing rate.

During the initial conference, we will discuss the nature and timing of the work to be performed as well as the fee to be charged. The fees Snyder & Snyder charges are typically based upon the hourly billing rate of the legal professional performing the work and the number of hours required to perform such services. For certain legal services such as probate and business formation, the fee Snyder & Snyder charges may be based upon our set flat-fee rate for such services. Normally, such flat-fee charge only reflects charges for our time involved and does not include ancillary costs such as filing fees which may be charged by other entities or governmental organizations. All such ancillary costs are separate charges which will be billed to the client in addition to our flat fee. The engagement agreement which Snyder & Snyder will send to each new client will clearly delineate whether the fee to be charged for the legal project will be based upon an hourly basis or upon a flat-fee basis.

When Snyder & Snyder performs legal services on an hourly billing rate basis, our legal professionals will normally try to provide an estimate of the anticipated time and costs involved in completing the project to the client's satisfaction. However, an estimate is just an estimate. The fees charged may be greater or lesser than the estimated amount and the estimate should not be understood to be an agreement to provide legal services at a flat rate. If it appears that the actual fees and expenses will significantly exceed our estimates, our clients are notified and given the opportunity to discontinue or modify the project.

We look forward to showing you that with proactive planning and by consulting with an attorney before problems do arise, we can serve as a revenue-enhancing asset rather than a cost burden.