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Legal FeesOur flat fee billing system: We offer excellent service at reasonable and predictable rates. We use a flat fee rather than an hourly billing system. With our flat fee system you will know your total legal costs from the beginning and will never be surprised with hidden or unanticipated costs. If our retainer letter says, for example, that an EB-1 Outstanding Researcher/Professor petition will cost you $2,800 in legal fees, you can count on paying $2,800 and no more. Please note that in addition to the legal fees there are minor expenses for photocopying and U.S. Postal or Federal Express services. Such expenses range from about $30 to $150, depending on the size of the petition. When comparing our flat fees with the flat fees of other law firms, look carefully to see if all legal fees are included in the flat fee. Please note that our flat fee includes the cost of dealing with unanticipated legal issues that may arise while preparing your petition. If your petition turns out to be more complicated and time consuming than we initially thought, we stick with the flat fee agreed upon in the retainer letter. Also, our flat fee includes the cost of responding to an RFE (Request for Evidence) from the USCIS after a petition is filed. When adjudicating petitions, the USCIS sometimes ask for additional information or documentation in a letter called an RFE. Contrast with hourly billing systems of other law firms: Many other law firms, especially the larger ones, use an hourly billing system in which attorneys and paralegals bill every minute they spend on your case. Hourly rates vary from firm to firm, but rates usually start at about $70 to $120 an hour for paralegals and go as high as $250 to $300 an hour for senior attorneys. In firms with an hourly billing system, the cost of responding to an RFE can quickly add several thousand dollars of unanticipated costs to your bill. Our flat fee system creates incentives that benefit clients: Our flat fee billing system motivates us to provide effective and client- friendly service. Our billing system encourages clients to communicate freely with us because they know they will not be billed for every telephone conversation or every time we respond to an e-mail. Also, our billing system creates a strong financial incentive for us to prepare petitions as carefully as possible because we bear the cost of preparing and filing any follow up correspondence with the CIS, such as an RFE. |
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