by Traverse Legal, reviewed by Enrico Schaefer - September 9, 2005 - 'The Greatest' Philosophy, Alternative Billing
I was working with a new prospect this Sunday morning by trading emails, I realized the value of providing free legal services. Thus far, I have spent about an hour trading emails, getting information, giving advice and roughly defining possible projects. This is essentially free legal advice which is providing significant value to the prospect. But it is also a time when I can get a feel for what the client’s expectations and budget might be. There is a grey area between attaining information, and roughing up a project and that point where the client starts to pay for that service. Of course, in the midst of all of this the attorney is trying to sell his services to the client. The point where you actually ask for a payment on a fee from the client is critical in the sales process.
I feel good about providing a little bit of help on the front end to a lot of people who contact me by email or phone after seeing my website. But, I realized that I can only provide a certain percentage of pro bono services. It doesn’t do me or my clients any good to spend four hours a day just helping people out for free.
It occurred to me this morning that I actually receive value out of providing whatever level of upfront pro bono time that seems appropriate under any given circumstances. The more time I put in, the better I can determine whether this is someone I actually want to do business with. I can have no hope of getting the perfect client if I don’t put quality time on the front end to determine whether or not they have the attributes I am looking for in clients. See the perfect client posts previously. If it appears that it is the type of client that I don’t mind doing at least some initial work for, I can them enter the dating period as I scale up the amount of support I would make available to them.
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As a founding partner of Traverse Legal, PLC, he has more than thirty years of experience as an attorney for both established companies and emerging start-ups. His extensive experience includes navigating technology law matters and complex litigation throughout the United States.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by attorney Enrico Schaefer, who has more than 20 years of legal experience as a practicing Business, IP, and Technology Law litigation attorney.
