Questions clients ask first

Yes. The first meeting is up to an hour with a partner, at no charge. You leave with a candid read on the matter whether or not you hire us.

To run a conflict check. We cannot hear the facts of your matter until we know we are free to act for you. It usually takes one business day, and often less.

Anything confidential or privileged. Until the conflict check clears and an engagement letter is signed, there is no attorney-client relationship, so send us an outline, not secrets.

Call the main line and say it is urgent. Conflicts can often clear the same day, and the on-call partner will tell you that evening what needs protecting first.

Four ways: partner-led hourly, a fixed price per phase, success fees with partial contingency, and caps. Most matters use one or two of them. The fees page explains each one.

Yes, in writing and phase by phase, before the work starts. If a phase is heading over budget, you hear from us before it happens, not on the invoice.

Sometimes, for plaintiff matters where we have read the documents and see a clear path to recovery. It is usually a partial contingency: a reduced rate plus an agreed share of what is recovered.

No. Experts, e-discovery vendors, court reporters, and filing fees are billed at exactly what they cost us.

The lawyers named in your engagement letter. Usually that is a partner and one or two associates, and they are the same people from the first meeting to the last hearing.

A written update every two weeks at minimum, and the same day when anything important happens. You will have your partner's direct line.

From one office in New York. Our lawyers are admitted in New York, Delaware, New Jersey, and California, and we appear in other courts alongside local counsel when a case needs it.

We will say so on the first call and introduce you to a firm we trust with that kind of work. We would rather refer you than learn on your matter.

No honest lawyer can promise an outcome. What we can give you is a clear view of the strengths, the risks, and a realistic range, updated as the record develops.

No. Most commercial cases settle. We prepare every matter as if it will be tried because that readiness is what the other side weighs when it values a settlement. Whether to settle is always your decision.

They are fictional examples on a sample site. On a real firm's site they would carry the same warning: past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter.