What is a Boutique Law Firm?
A boutique law firm isn’t about size, it’s about specialization. Boutique firms specialize in one or a select few practice areas or in a niche area of law practice to the extent that its attorneys become and are acknowledged as experts in their fields.
Why choosing a Boutique Law Firm?
Boutique law firms are drawing business away from the general practice firms. The shift from midsize and large law firms to boutique legal services is driven by a desire to obtain the services of better attorneys with specialized experience and to reduce costs in the process. The tailored approach, enhanced flexibility, direct involvement of the senior partners and straight contact between the latter and the client act as additional competitive advantages.
What are the fee arrangements?
Ro-Law employs a flexible remuneration framework, adapted to the complexity of the legal services the firm is required to provide and the amount of work expected to be performed.
In the competitive legal market, the firm goes to great lengths to establish fee structures that are reasonable to its clients. Depending on the type of case or client matter as well as on the specific circumstances of each particular client, the firm’s fees may be agreed under the following stand-alone patterns or as a blend of them:
- HOURLY RATE FEES, calculated by applying the hourly rates of the firm’s members involved in the particular legal matter to the time each spent in providing the specific services, as per the strict evidence of activity maintained by the firm’s management. For more than 20 years now, we have refined a very restrictive policy on evaluation of billable time. Upon managing partner’s validation of invoices, time ultimately billed to our clients represents a part deemed reasonable out of the effective time spent by the attorneys upon each legal activity, both effective and billable times being evidenced under the description of services accompanying our invoices
- FLAT FEES, representing task-based fixed fees typically applicable to standard or routine legal matters falling in particular categories or, in general, to straightforward legal matters generating a reasonably predictable volume of work
- CONTINGENCY FEES, calculated as percentage of the project’s value or of a client’s compensation or recovery in a case. Such fees generally are success-based fees
- RETAINER FEES, representing a fixed and nonrefundable amount periodically paid by the client for continuing legal services throughout the year. This type of fees agreement usually only covers general advise on legal matters arising upon client’s day-to-day business activity and would not include extraordinary matters such as litigation
In accordance with the international practice, irrespective of the fee arrangement employed, the costs and expenses made by the firm on behalf and account of the client are covered by the latter and are detailed in the final report presented by the firm.
The current office expenses incurred by the law firm in carrying out its normal professional activity (including but not limited to telecommunication expenses and office supplies) are included in the above mentioned fees. Travelling outside Bucharest is billed upon half the hourly rate of the travelling attorney, as a reasonable estimate of the forward and return journeys.
