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Last update: 05/01/13

Established 1993

Our 20th Anniversary

 We wrote the book on legal fees.

The authoritative text on legal fees & how to manage them is ...
 

Legal Fees: Law & Management

by John Toothman & Prof. William G. Ross

The most influential book about legal fees and managing lawyers.

• published by Carolina Academic Press

• also available through Barnes&Noble.com

More information

The Client's Bill of Rights:  Based on our original Client Bill of Rights™.  Includes the ten rights all clients have and all lawyers should respect.  ($2.99; 7,700 words)

• Amazon Kindle Edition
• Barnes & Noble ePub Edition

The Civilian's Guide to Lawyers -- How to Hire a Lawyer: The first of three volumes to assist clients to hire, manage, and fire a lawyer or, if they cannot find an affordable, cost-effective lawyer, to represent themselves.  (Vol. 1 $9.90; 44,000 words)  (Vol. 2: How to Fire a Lawyer; Vol. 3: How to Live Without a Lawyer coming soon)

• Amazon Kindle Edition

• Barnes & Noble ePub Edition

Our Legal Fees Paper:

To Get Paid, Get Reasonable, Second Edition

Our paper on reasonable fees is based on an article we presented at an ABA Litigation Section conference.  The paper includes an extensive discussion of the legal basis for reasonable legal fees and expenses and how those issues are handled in common litigation and ethical situations.  The paper also discusses common legal bill review ("audit") issues.  The second edition is now available.

Request a free copy of our paper:  Here

• Our services include:
  • legal bill reviews and audits,
  • legal billing and fee management software effectiveness audits,
  • independent litigation consulting,
  • second opinions on litigation options,
  • case post-mortems, both for legal malpractice claims or lawyer management,
  • real-time litigation monitoring,
  • law firm evaluation, selection, and auditions,
  • expert testimony, including billing disputes, ethics, and malpractice,
  • law firm billing agreements,
  • hourly rate studies & analysis,
  • legal billing software evaluation & verification,
  • alternative legal fees (design, testing & analysis for clients and firms),
  • litigation strategy and tactics audits,
  • case risk and expense evaluation, including analysis for third-parties like analysts, investors, and competitors,
  • legal fee budgets and estimates,
  • fee dispute mediation and arbitration (consulting for a party or acting as the mediator or arbitrator), and
  • litigation and legal fee management training.
• Devil's Advocate and its unique services have been featured in stories by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bottomline, CBS Radio's Marketplace, Inc. Magazine, The Business News Network, Entrepreneur magazine, The New Jersey Law Journal, New York Post, New York Law Journal, Legal Times, Nation's Business, American Lawyer, California Lawyer, Miami Herald, Virginia Business Magazine, Of Counsel, D&B Report, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and many more publications.
• For clients without in-house legal counsel, we provide our Independent Counsel service to fill the legal management gap at a reasonable cost.
• We strive to provide cost-effective services while promoting an equitable lawyer-client relationship.
• We are independent.  We do not prejudge any legal bill or law firm.  We are not owned by nor are we affiliated with any other entity, such as an insurance company or law firm.
• Our legal fee reviews and audits are based on legal, not arbitrary, standards.
• We track ethical rules and maintain the confidentiality of our work.
• We use proprietary methods and software to automate and expedite review, but we dig deep with a line-by-line review.
• The fees we charge for our services are the most reasonable in the country.
• Our services are provided nationwide.
• DA has been registered as a federal contractor through the GSA Central Contractor Registry.

     Since The Devil's Advocate was founded in 1993, we have been the pre-eminent national authority on legal fee management.  We have also pioneered litigation consulting to monitor lawyer performance as well as cost.

     Browse our web-site for more information about our services, our experience, and samples of our work.   We've included articles by and about us.  You'll also find valuable monographs we have prepared, including the Client Bill of Rights, Managing Lawyers and Legal Fees, and our client-friendly Billing Agreement.