Our hourly charge rates, excluding GST, are currently as follows:
| $ | |
| Partner | 445 |
| Senior Associate | 360 |
| Associate | 315 |
| Paralegal | 230 |
| Law Clerk | 230 |
To the best of our knowledge, Fenwick Elliott Grace is the only law firm in Adelaide that charges clients on the basis of actual time spent. Other law firms operate on intervals of 1/10th of an hour. Usually, a phone call or an email that takes only 1 minute of a lawyer’s time will result in a charge to the client of 1/10th of an hour. Similarly, if the call takes 7 minutes, the usual billing systems round the charge up to the next 1/10th of an hour interval. The following examples are based on the hourly rates applicable for a senior associate of $330 per hour plus GST.
Activity |
Duration |
FEG Charge |
Other law firm charge |
Telephone call |
2 minutes |
$12.00 |
$36.00 |
7 minutes |
$42.00 |
$72.00 |
The partners of Fenwick Elliott Grace have adopted this charging system as we believe it reflects an approach that is fairer and consistent with our goal of building long term relationships with our clients.
Under this system, clients are not being asked to pay for time that has not been spent on their matter.
At Fenwick Elliott Grace, we have developed computer software that predicts the cost of legal action and sets out in detail the likely costs of each stage of the litigation. We find that this software is a powerful tool for our clients when negotiating the settlement of commercial disputes. At such negotiations, we are able to provide to the other side a detailed analysis of the likely cost of refusing to accept a reasonable settlement.
We have found that parties are likely to take a commercial approach to resolving disputes when they are fully informed as to the cost of taking a matter to trial. Our approach is to assist our clients to resolve their disputes so that they can focus on their core business and not be distracted by costly litigation. That way, we enjoy a long term relationship with our clients and help them build their business.