Hire a lawyer who offers fixed fee services to get predictability in costs. Provide your lawyer with organized documents and a written agenda before meetings to get the most value. Consider alternative dispute resolutions before litigation, as court is usually the most expensive option. Communicate your budget and scope of work clearly to control costs.

1. How to reduce your legal bill
If you are planning to hire a lawyer who will be billing you for the
time he/she spends on your matter than read on.

2. Get documents and information ready
Ask for a questionnaire and bring it completed to the interview.
Bring copies of all relevant documents to your first interview
including financial statements, court documents, videos, photos,
valuation reports etc.
If you need evidence from a third party it may be cheaper to arrange
it yourself, e.g. valuation of a property or a company.
Lawyers work with chronologies - this is a list of events in
chronological order supported by evidence. E.g. “I married John
Smith on 12 August 2001 and this is a copy of my marriage
certificate”. Have your chronology ready before you see your
lawyer.
Instead of handing over a bundle of documents to your lawyer you
can save on costs by categorising and indexing the documents
yourself.

3. Have clear objectives
Write down the best outcome that you are hoping to achieve.
Then write down the second and third best outcomes that you will
be prepared to accept.
Expect a difference in legal costs for achieving each of your three
different objectives.

4. Always have a written agenda
Write down the issues that you want to discuss with your lawyer.
Always identify the issues in dispute and those agreed with the
other party.
Email or post the agenda to your lawyer so that s/he can get
prepared before the meeting so you can get the maximum benefit of
your meeting.

5. Choose the most cost effective
method to achieve your objectives
Research the different options for resolving your problem –
negotiation, mediation, collaboration, arbitration, court action etc.
Court action is usually not the only option but it is likely to be the
most expensive one.
Try resolving your problem through one of the more cost effective
methods before going to court.

6. Ask for an estimate of costs
Lawyers in Western Australia are obliged to give clients an estimate
of costs in writing in the form of a retainer agreement if the
expected costs are likely to be more than $1,500.
Ensure that you have been given an estimate of costs and a list of
factors that may influence the estimate of costs.

7. Scope of work
Define the scope of work to be performed by your lawyer - any
scope creep will increase your legal costs.

8. Have a budget
Tell your lawyer what your budget is, if you have one, and seek
assurances that your matter can be completed within your budget.

9. Communicating with your lawyer
Request from your lawyer a progress report.
Discuss with your lawyer the time interval between each report and
avoid contacting him/her just to follow up unless you have to.
Your lawyer should be forwarding to you all correspondence from
the other party in relation to the matter as soon as it arrives.
Calls to mobile phones are usually charged at a premium – give
your lawyer a landline number, if you have one, as your primary
contact number.

10. Recovery of legal costs
Check with your lawyer if it is likely for you to recover from the other
party any of the legal costs in your matter.
Not all costs are recoverable and even if you are awarded costs by
the court you will never be able to recover the total amount you
have paid to your lawyer.

11. Project Management
You might be able to cover all of the previous points easily if your
lawyer has project management skills and knowledge.
Ask your lawyer for a written step by step outline for the
management of your matter.

12. Quality systems
Look for a law firm which has been accredited by the Law Society in
your State as a quality service provider.
Such firms have a quality management system in place which helps
increase efficiency, predictability and quality.
The service provided by such a firm is expected to be of a calibre
that will save you on costs in the long run.

13. Be succinct
Stick to the relevant facts rather than the emotional issues in the
matter, avoid irrelevant issues, you will be paying for those too.

14. Involving family and friends
If you are bringing family members and friends for support to your
lawyer’s office instruct them to stay quiet.
They may be more useful to you if they take notes of what is being
said than becoming involved in the discussions.

15. Pay bills on time
Lawyers are entitled to charge you interest on any outstanding bills.
Make sure that you can secure the funds before you engage your
lawyer and subsequently pay your bills on time.

16. Choose your lawyer carefully
Changing lawyers after you have signed the retainer is most likely
going to increase your legal costs.
The new lawyer will not be able to take off from where your former
lawyer stopped work on your matter.
The new lawyer will charge you a premium for familiarising
him/herself with your matter.

17. Settle early
Consider all possible options to settle the matter early. Ask your
lawyer to help you reach a sound commercial decision.
Early settlement is likely to reduce your legal bill significantly.

18. Review of documents by a lawyer
before your sign
Review by lawyer of contractual documents ( such as a contract for
building a house, sale of real estate, retirement village agreements
etc) that you are considering signing is most likely to be cheaper
than your lawyer’s fees for trying to resolve issues arising after you
have signed those documents.

19. Documents that you should
prepare now
There are certain documents that you should prepare now while
you can such as your estate plan.
Failure to do so in time is likely to cost your loved ones a lot more
when they need to deal with your estate.

20. Do not delay seeking legal advice
Delay may not only be costly but may also bar you from starting
legal action. There are certain time limits that apply.

21. Unbundle your legal services
If you are willing and able to do some of the work in your matter
then you may ask your lawyer to perform not all but only some
specific tasks on your behalf.
This approach may reduce your bill in the short term but may be
more costly later if you make a mistake.

22. Contact support staff for non-legal
questions
Most questions that do not involve legal advice may be answered
by your lawyer's personal assistant.
Talking to support personal is always cheaper than talking to your
lawyer.

23. No two cases are the same
Do not rely on the advice of your friends or family members which is
based on their personal experiences.
It may be more expensive to fix problems created by such an
advice than to pay for a lawyer’s advice in the first place.

24. Fixed fees legal service
If you are looking for predictability of legal costs than you should
consider hiring a lawyer who offers fixed fee legal services.

25. Collaborate with your lawyer for a
better experience and reduced
legal fees!
Quality Management for Legal Practices Blog