Comments on: Do You Take Payments? http://bennettandbennett.com/blog/2007/10/do-you-take-payments.html the art and science of criminal defense trial lawyering Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:33:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Mark Bennett http://bennettandbennett.com/blog/2007/10/do-you-take-payments.html/comment-page-1#comment-496 Mark Bennett Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:30:00 +0000 http://bennettandbennett.com/blog/?p=328#comment-496 And I read it, of course. And I read it, of course.

]]> By: Brian Tannebaum http://bennettandbennett.com/blog/2007/10/do-you-take-payments.html/comment-page-1#comment-495 Brian Tannebaum Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:41:00 +0000 http://bennettandbennett.com/blog/?p=328#comment-495 Sometimes I think we share the same brain. I wrote about this back in july.<br/><br/>http://criminaldefenseblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/payment-plan-practices.html Sometimes I think we share the same brain. I wrote about this back in july.

http://criminaldefenseblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/payment-plan-practices.html

]]> By: Mark Bennett http://bennettandbennett.com/blog/2007/10/do-you-take-payments.html/comment-page-1#comment-490 Mark Bennett Fri, 05 Oct 2007 14:04:00 +0000 http://bennettandbennett.com/blog/?p=328#comment-490 Jamie,<br/><br/>The pool of potential clients is diminished by my pricing, incuding my no-payment-plans policy, but I have no idea how much. I used to charge a lot less and take payments, and I have fewer clients now but they pay me better. <br/><br/>If I lowered my fees or took payments, I might get 50% more business, make 30% more money, and have 33% less time to spend on each case. No, thank you.<br/><br/>I'll often -- if I'm convinced that the client just needs some time to borrow or otherwise collect the money -- give a client some time to pay the second half of the fee. Typically, I'll take half up front and half in a month, but only if we have a clear understanding of where the money is going to come from.<br/><br/>It takes faith to double your fees, and faith to stop taking payments. But both will make your life better, allow you to represent your clients better, make your clients happier, and allow you to spend more time with the twins. Jamie,

The pool of potential clients is diminished by my pricing, incuding my no-payment-plans policy, but I have no idea how much. I used to charge a lot less and take payments, and I have fewer clients now but they pay me better.

If I lowered my fees or took payments, I might get 50% more business, make 30% more money, and have 33% less time to spend on each case. No, thank you.

I’ll often — if I’m convinced that the client just needs some time to borrow or otherwise collect the money — give a client some time to pay the second half of the fee. Typically, I’ll take half up front and half in a month, but only if we have a clear understanding of where the money is going to come from.

It takes faith to double your fees, and faith to stop taking payments. But both will make your life better, allow you to represent your clients better, make your clients happier, and allow you to spend more time with the twins.

]]> By: Jamie http://bennettandbennett.com/blog/2007/10/do-you-take-payments.html/comment-page-1#comment-487 Jamie Fri, 05 Oct 2007 05:13:00 +0000 http://bennettandbennett.com/blog/?p=328#comment-487 What percentage of potential clients do you lose based on this?<br/><br/>That's not a criticism, it's an actual question. Personally, I hate being a collections agency, and frankly, I do such a bad job of being one, that I frequently get severely underpaid.<br/><br/>Also, thanks for telling me about the State Bar Journal article. I might not have noticed it. I use it only for the same general purposes that you do, except I’ll admit to reading the disbarment section to find out which <i>other</i> Austin lawyers have bee disbarred ?<br/><br/>Also, you were far too modest in not mentioning that you were one of the 4 bloggers mentioned in that list. (I tried to hypelink to the article in this comment, but your settings wouldn't let me.) What percentage of potential clients do you lose based on this?

That’s not a criticism, it’s an actual question. Personally, I hate being a collections agency, and frankly, I do such a bad job of being one, that I frequently get severely underpaid.

Also, thanks for telling me about the State Bar Journal article. I might not have noticed it. I use it only for the same general purposes that you do, except I’ll admit to reading the disbarment section to find out which other Austin lawyers have bee disbarred ?

Also, you were far too modest in not mentioning that you were one of the 4 bloggers mentioned in that list. (I tried to hypelink to the article in this comment, but your settings wouldn’t let me.)

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