The Going Rate

I came across a 2010 legal fees survey conducted by Canadian Lawyer's Magazine (see here). I found it quite fascinating to go through, and wondered if it might be a useful resource when meeting with clients - especially when they are asking for estimates or quotes for various legal services.

I was a little surprised to see the fee ranges for some legal services. For example, a civil action trial (2 days) runs from $18,185 to $62,843 (avg $26,444). I noticed that fees for small firms (1-4 lawyers) were often lower. For some services fees were higher in the Western region than in Ontario, but the opposite for other services. I wonder why?

I was also quite impressed to see that our firm's rates were on par with average fees across the board. That's pretty amazing since we kind of came up with them on our own. However, we do try to base fees on the actual work involved in the service.