Fees for Criminal Law Matters
At OBVLaw, we are cognisant of the need to conserve funds and stretch each dollar as far as it can go. Please find below our criminal law fee structure and options that may work for you in retaining us to represent you.
Request Consult Call Us: 905-597-6671Fee Structure
Flat Rate
For most of our criminal law matters, we bill our work on a flat rate basis. When this happens, there are no hidden fees. On accepting the retainer, the work will be completed for the agreed flat fee regardless of how long it takes to complete the matter.
We require clients to provide us with a retainer. The retainer funds will be deposited in our trust account, where we keep our clients’ money, until some, or all the work has been done on the file. We are only able to access the trust funds to pay ourselves after we have done the work and provided the client with an account.
In most cases, we are only able to estimate fees after we have reviewed initial disclosure. Where disclosure is not yet available, we often ask clients to provide initial limited retainer to enable us attend court, receive and review disclosure, and provide a proper estimate of what it will cost to complete the matter.
As well, we usually charge flat rate fees for two different stages of a matter. The first stage will cover the case management aspect of the matter. The second stage will involve trials or preliminary hearings. The flat rate for the second stage will be for each day of trial or prelim.
Hourly Rate
Sometimes it is impossible to estimate how long and how much it will take to complete a criminal matter. In such matters, we charge fees on an hourly rate basis and require our clients to provide us with an initial retainer. We deposit all retainers in our trust account. For hourly fee retainers, we usually require our clients to replenish the retainer when the funds in trust have been depleted. The full cost of legal representation for matters billed on an hourly rate will depend on how much work has been done on the file.
Current Hourly Rates
Lawyers: $250.00 to $450.00
Law Clerks: $100 – $150.00
Legal Aid
We accept legal aid certificates for criminal law matters.
Payment Plans
We recognize that people with limited means are not exempt from criminal charges. Accordingly, in appropriate cases, we draw up a payment plan to assist clients to meet their obligations as they relate to our fees.
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