You and your attorney should share a clear understanding of what you’ve hired your attorney to do, so that your attorney understands what services you expect to receive, and so that the meter won’t run on matters beyond the scope of your attorney’s engagement. I will confirm that we have a clear and mutual agreement on the scope of the services that you have engaged me to provide, by describing the matter in writing in a mutually signed engagement letter.

 You should have advance notice of, and your attorney should make sure that you have agreed to, the way in which you are charged for your attorney’s services. Our engagement letter will describe the hourly billing rate that will apply to your matter, and I will not raise my rates without receiving your prior written approval.

 Your attorney’s statement for services should be open-book and transparent, and should follow your billing guidelines. I will keep track of the time that I spend on your matter on a real-time basis as my work is performed, and I will be happy to provide you with a cumulative total of billed hours and fees accrued on a matter at any point in time, promptly upon your inquiry. Our statement for services will include detailed descriptions of the work I have performed, in increments of one-tenth of an hour. If you require a particular billing format for your legal bills, or require separate billing statements for separate cost centers, our billing statements will follow your guidelines.

 Your attorney’s bill should not include hidden extra charges, nor should you be charged for overhead or the administrative costs of your attorney’s law practice. We do not charge our clients for photocopying expenses for attorney files, local U.S. mail postage, local telephone or facsimile expenses, or local travel. We provide clients outside our area code with our clients-only toll-free telephone number. Although our clients are requested to reimburse other long-distance telephone or facsimile charges, out-of-state postage or overnight courier expense, and third-party out-of-pocket expenditures (such as filing fees), those reimbursements are strictly at cost with no markup or profit add-on. We do not charge our clients for time spent on preparation of engagement letters, conflict letters, or billing statements.

 You should know whether or not your attorney carries professional liability insurance that covers the legal services provided to clients. Our engagement letter will confirm to you that our practice and my services to you are covered by professional liability insurance.

 Your attorney owes you the utmost duty of loyalty and confidentiality, without any hidden conflicts of interest. Before eliciting confidential information from you about your potential matter, I will confirm that no conflicts would be presented by my representing you. If I encounter a conflict of interest, actual or potential, I will fully disclose it to you, advise you to work with another attorney if that is in your best interest, or make sure that your waiver of the conflict is on a fully informed basis. I will not ask you to waive, in advance, future conflicts on matters that are unknown to either you or me.

 You should receive prompt and responsive attention from your attorney. I will respond to your calls within hours (or sooner), not days.

 Your priority for getting work product turned around should be your attorney’s priority. I will turn around documents within days (or sooner), not weeks.

 You should know who your attorney is. If I am hired as your attorney, you will work with me, not an inexperienced or unsupervised associate placed on your matter as a training opportunity, or an attorney from a different practice area who needs billable work to fill up time.

 Your attorney should advise you if you would be better served by another attorney, when the matter at hand is outside your attorney’s expertise or when limitations on your attorney’s time mean that you would not receive the quality of service that you deserve. I will turn down the opportunity to work with you, and will recommend that you take a prospective matter to a different attorney, if the matter is not within my area of practice, or if I cannot devote the time that the matter merits, within the timeframe that you require, to provide the quality of service that you deserve.