In many companies and organizations the budget for legal representation is constantly increasing as a result of the heavy cost of litigation in commercial dealings, breach of contract, various agreements and other legal matters that are f importance to a business; one effective way to cut legal costs to enter into a retainer arrangement.
What is a retainer agreement?
Today we all live and work in an environment which demands that individuals and corporate entities work very carefully in all the commercial dealings, agreements, communications, etc. This is because any communication made by an entity can be seen as a contract should any problems resulting from it be the cause of future litigation. The types of communication that can be construed as a binding contract are such things as letters of appointment, letters of suspension or termination, email correspondence, statutory notices, letters that express disagreement, etc.
The stakes today are very high; certain actions must be taken within specific time constraints otherwise lack of action can be construed as agreement by a court. Companies are beginning to see the wisdom in engaging the services of a multi-discipline law firm to advise them on day to day issues that can become important if not handled with care. These arrangements help a company to have experts under one roof that can provide legal guidance and assistance. A retainer agreement with a law firm helps control the costs of legal representation and cut legal costs as the fee for representation is set well in advance based on the anticipated workload of non-litigation work, there are no bills during the term of the agreement. Even if the work load should go over that originally agreed upon, the fee will not change during the term of the agreement.
Unlimited non-litigation legal services at a fixed cost:
A law firm and a corporation will agree to a fixed fee that covers all in-chamber legal work, this work includes but is not necessarily limited to consultation, settling of legal documents, contracts, communication, labor related documentation, responding to legal notices, etc. When the company chooses a law firm which is multi-discipline they have access to lawyers from the various specialties within law. To maintain harmony the law firm normally assigns one lawyer who is dedicated to the client to ensure that the flow of information and communication goes flawlessly.
The fee that is set between the law firm and the client is designed to cut legal costs but is totally dependent once an estimate of the work has be assessed and agreed upon.
