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Last update: 01/01/12

Established 1993

 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

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 latest paper:  To Get Paid, Get Reasonable

An article we presented at the ABA's Litigation Section conference in Tucson.  Includes an extensive discussion of the basis for reasonable legal fees and expenses and how those issues are handled in common litigation and ethical situations.  Also discusses common legal bill review ("audit") issues.

Request a copy of our paper
Here

• Our services include:
  • legal bill reviews and 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,
  • alternative fees,
  • 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 are the most reasonable in the country.
• Our services are provided nationwide.
• DA is 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.