Sample Fee Agreements Available From NCBA

Looking for a sample contingent fee agreement? How about an hourly contract with staged discounts?

You can locate and download samples of those and other fee contracts by logging onto the North Carolina Bar Association’s web site at barlinc.org.

The web offerings are the result of an NCBA survey on legal fees and contracts and a solicitation of sample contracts from its members. More than 150 examples were received. Many of these are posted to the web site.

“The forms reproduced here are actually in use by lawyers in North Carolina,” according to the site.

“Because creativity knows no bounds, we did not feel it our purpose to create the perfect alternative billing letter, because it is impossible to create one that is in the category of ‘one size fits all.'”

The site points out that the ABA Section of Law Practice Management has published manuscripts on fee contract and representation agreements. It cautions lawyers who enter into alternative billing arrangements to always have a written agreement which clearly discloses the fee arrangement.

“We noted in our survey that fee letters were often sent to clients without any response required on their part,” notes the site. “We believe that this could be a trap for the unwary, and will only lead to a potential disagreement and/or a malpractice suit.”

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