Law Firm Fee Setting
Rainmaking For Lawyers helps law firm leaders choose the right fee structure, quote with confidence, and raise rates for new clients, with most firms seeing increases of 10–25% within three to six months.
Making marketing changes requires time and effort, but securing a higher fee enhances a conversation you’re already having.
For over twenty years, Rainmaking For Lawyers has been helping lawyers confidently select, quote, and communicate fees that reflect their true worth.
Our work is led by Gideon Grunfeld, a former litigator, antitrust attorney, NSA chapter president, and former board member of the Counsel for Justice, who has advised law firms from solo practices to AmLaw organizations.
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Law Firm Leaders Who Raise Rates for New Clients Earn More Without Adding Hours
Too many lawyers fail to see the strategic benefits of raising their rates. If you want to be less busy, work fewer hours, incentivize clients to work with associates, improve your collections, or break the cycle of getting referrals from fee-sensitive clients, you can address these problems by raising your rates-especially for new clients.
How Gideon Grunfeld Helps Lawyers Pick Between Hourly, Flat, and Value-Based Fees
To quote the right fee, you need to understand which structure best fits each client and situation. Yet most attorneys miss out on this opportunity because they lack a systematic approach to making this critical choice.
The decision hinges on one core question: How directly does your value depend on the time invested? When a client faces a potential business dispute, for example, simply sending a letter on your firm’s letterhead that resolves the issue delivers tremendous value, whether it took you 30 minutes or three hours to draft. Here, the value lies in your firm’s reputation and hard-earned expertise, not the hours spent writing.
This distinction becomes even more important when choosing among fee structures such as hourly billing, flat fees, hybrid models, or even value-based fees in the right cases:
| Fee Structure | Best Used When | Key Consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly billing | The time invested directly determines the value delivered | Rewards effort, not outcomes, and may discourage efficiency |
| Flat fee | Scope is predictable and the firm’s reputation drives most of the value | Requires defining scope with precision, otherwise you risk uncompensated overruns. |
| Hybrid (hourly + flat) | Matters with a predictable core and unpredictable peripheral work | Balances certainty for clients with protection for the firm |
| Value-based fee | The firm’s expertise or reputation delivers outsized value relative to time | Clients must understand your value before hearing a number, which requires a confident framing |
| Capped fee | Clients want budget certainty but the matter isn’t fully predictable | The cap must be set carefully, otherwise you risk the firm absorbing all overruns |
| General retainer | Ongoing access to advice, not tied to specific matters | Define what’s included or clients will expand scope without expanding payment |
| Advance-fee retainer | Payment upfront applied against future work | To ensure proper collection, you’ll require clear accounting in the engagement letter |
| Evergreen retainer | Ongoing matters where the retainer replenishes as it’s drawn down | Keeps cash flow predictable for both parties on long-running engagements |
Once you internalize this, you can confidently set the appropriate amounts, whether it’s a flat fee or an hourly rate. In some situations, this also includes deciding whether a retainer, such as a general, advance-fee, or evergreen retainer, is the more strategic option when a client needs ongoing support or when predictability matters.
We’ve helped lawyers across more than 20 practice areas, including family law, estate planning, probate litigation, immigration law, and many others. Our clients charge by hourly rates, flat fee, or a hybrid approach, and we support a wide range of fields such as labor law, IP, patent prosecution, business litigation, healthcare, corporate M&A, and more.
As a result, our clients stand firmer and get paid better. Fill out the intake form on this page and become the next one.
What Rainmaking For Lawyers Has Done for Law Firms
Rainmaking For Lawyers recently advised a West Coast-based law firm on its expansion into a major East Coast market, guiding a successful response to an RFP from a major academic institution for regulatory and litigation services. That advice covered the full lifecycle – from deciding whether to respond and crafting the initial proposal, through multiple rounds of interviews.
Most law firms are able to raise their rates when they approach fee-setting strategically. The exception is insurance defense work, where large carriers often prescribe fixed billing rates and strict fee caps for panel firms, leaving little room to negotiate. Rainmaking For Lawyers helps firms recognize this distinction, so they know where they have room to negotiate and where they don’t.
Lawyers Who Quote Fees Too Early Lose the Fee Conversation Before It Starts
Many lawyers make the mistake of quoting fees too early, which prevents client vetting and context-building. If a potential client asks about fees before explaining their situation, that’s a red flag. Instead, first assess their priorities and the stakes involved.
Second, clients can only properly evaluate your fees when given the right context. Since law schools is about legal skills, not practice, most attorneys throw out a fee before they even know what is at stake. That frames the fee as just another cost, not as a reflection of value. Rainmaking For Lawyers teaches lawyers a better approach.
Your clients need to understand the true value and importance of your work before hearing numbers. Otherwise, you’re just encouraging them to compare prices rather than quality of representation.
Rainmaking For Lawyers teaches lawyers a better approach.
Improve Your Fee Setting with Rainmaking For Lawyers
Rainmaking For Lawyers has helped lawyers across countless practice areas confidently select, quote, and communicate fees that reflect their true worth.
Our work is led by Gideon Grunfeld, JD, a former California-licensed litigator and antitrust lawyer who has addressed more than 5,000 lawyers nationwide. Gideon is the former Chair of the Law Practice Management sections of both the State Bar of California and the Beverly Hills Bar Association, and past President of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the National Speakers Association.
As a result, our clients stand firmer and get paid better. Use the intake form on this page and become the next one.
Get StartedFrequently Asked Questions
In our experience, most law firms undercharge and don’t test the market enough to see what they could be charging. We often recommend raising their hourly and flat fees for new clients right away, but we do this selectively, for the right kind of potential clients. It’s not unusual for us to suggest incremental increases of 10–25% (or even more) within 3–6 months, depending on the situation. We may also evaluate whether capped fees make sense for certain matters, especially when clients appreciate budget predictability.
This is designed for law firms in nearly any practice area that bill by the hour, flat fee, or a mix of both. And it’s especially useful for firms representing individuals or organizations where clients are billed separately. Firms using retainers such as advance, general, or evergreen retainers also benefit significantly from guidance on structuring them properly.
Yes, we have extensive experience helping firms navigate the RFP process. For instance, we recently assisted a West Coast-based law firm in its expansion to a major East Coast market by advising on a successful response to an RFP from a major academic institution for regulatory and litigation services. Our advice covered the full lifecycle-from deciding whether to respond and crafting the initial proposal, through multiple interview rounds. Our RFP guidance regularly includes strategic advice on meeting specific client requirements, such as billing guidelines, blended fee structures, and compliance with corporate outside counsel policies.
Our strategic advice has the least impact in scenarios where there is no opportunity for arm’s-length negotiation, typically due to a substantial power imbalance favoring the client. The textbook example is insurance defense work. Large insurance carriers often prescribe fixed billing rates and strict fee caps for panel firms, leaving little to no room for individual firms to negotiate higher terms. While such rigid, client-driven structures limit strategic fee flexibility, they represent the exception, not the rule. Fortunately, the vast majority of law firms are not in this situation, and are able to increase their rates if they act strategically.
The rules of professional conduct in most jurisdictions give lawyers wide latitude in structuring fees, requiring only that they be reasonable. This allows for significant creativity beyond standard hourly or flat fee arrangements.
Yes. We have extensive experience advising law firms that utilize contingency fees, whether as part of a broader mixed practice or as their primary and exclusive fee model. Our strategic recommendations are tailored to the unique economics of contingency work, focusing on case valuation, intake strategy, ethical compliance, and financial planning to build a sustainable and successful practice.
Ethical rules form the essential framework for all fee arrangements. While most states adopt a version of ABA Model Rule 1.5 requiring fees to be “reasonable,” standards can vary. For example, California prohibits fees that are “unconscionable.” Beyond these general principles, specific rules apply to certain practice areas, such as the widespread prohibition against contingency fees in family law. Crucially, compliance often depends on formal engagement requirements. Statutes like California’s Business and Professions Code §§ 6146–6147 mandate specific disclosures and delivery of contingency fee contracts; non-compliance can void the agreement and the right to collect. We help firms navigate this complex landscape, ensuring their fee strategies are not only effective but also ethically sound and legally enforceable in their specific jurisdiction.
Defining scope is a mandatory first step in ethical fee-setting, and is particularly vital for flat-fee arrangements. A vague scope creates a perverse incentive for the client to expand the work without expanding the fee, leading to uncompensated effort, collection delays, or even non-payment. We help firms draft clear, precise scope provisions in their engagement agreements, focusing on creating boundaries that prevent scope creep, reduce disputes, and secure full payment, ensuring your fee accurately reflects the defined (and delivered) value.
Fee strategies for corporate, RFP, and insurance work are primarily a function of bargaining power and volume. Large institutional clients (such as corporations, insurers, and government entities) use the promise of high-volume, repeat business to formally negotiate lower rates and strict administrative compliance, often through RFPs. Insurance defense represents the most extreme end of this spectrum, where preset billing guidelines and fee caps typically leave firms with little leverage, resulting in the deepest discounts. The core principles of our strategic advice still apply here. We help firms navigate these volume-driven negotiations, prepare compelling RFP responses, and maximize their position within the client’s framework.