TIMED
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Timed assistance is dedicated to all those who are already clients of the law firm or who have at least undergone an initial consultancy session.
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It is used for non-litigious assistance and consultancy practices that have a defined duration or are reasonably estimable (for example in anticipation of an already known deadline), and may also involve hourly billing.
There are two main billing methods:
1) The first is a flat fee for the entire assistance period (e.g., 3 months). This is often preferred over hourly rates since it saves clients money and gives them certainty about how long they'll be paying (e.g., a moderately complex case valued at €850,000 over three months might have a fixed quarterly fee of €5,997.00).
2) Alternatively, there is a fixed hourly rate applied to single activities and their actual duration. This method is preferable for very specific duties (such as the review and/or drafting of individual contracts).
Even hourly rate work will require an initial practice initiation fee to be paid at the outset, based on the value and complexity of the work performed. Once the practice is initiated, the individual activities performed on behalf of the client and their duration will be recorded, and periodic communications with payment requests will be made. The minimum hourly rate of the firm under these methods is 200.00 euros, unless there are cases of particular and greater complexity.
The best agreement is usually a combination of these two methods listed above 1) + 2): namely, a minimum lump-sum base to which hourly billing for individual activities is added, so that if the actual activity of the firm decreases, the client will have significant cost savings, while if the intensity of the work increases, the additional cost will be directly related to the firm's actual commitment.