How our fixed fees work.
Grigoras Law offers fixed fees for litigation, arbitration and appeals, and for business and advisory work. The fee for each stage of the matter is quoted in writing before the stage begins, it is paid into trust and billed as the work is done, and it does not change if the stage takes us longer than we expected. We also offer the hourly fee arrangement, and you choose between the two at the start of the matter. This page describes the fixed fee arrangement in the same terms as our engagement letter.
Fixed fees, stage by stage.
Chapter One explains why we offer fixed fees and what they give you. Chapter Two explains how the arrangement works, from the stages of a matter to the quote, the trust account, what is included and what is not, and the changes that can affect a fee. Chapter Three covers the hourly arrangement, what happens if a matter ends early, costs recovered from the other side, and the protections that apply to every retainer. It is written for clients, and it is worth reading before you sign an engagement letter.
Why We Offer Fixed Fees.
A fixed fee tells you what a stage of your matter will cost before the work starts. That is the main reason we offer it, and there are others.
Predictability
The first question most clients ask is what the matter will cost. Under an hourly arrangement we can give you an estimate, but the time a step will take depends on things that cannot be known at the outset (e.g., how the other side conducts itself, how many documents there are, whether a motion becomes necessary). Under a fixed fee we give you the figure. We quote the fee for each stage in writing before the stage begins, and that figure is what the stage costs, however many hours it takes us.
The quote also sets out what we have assumed about the stage, so you can see what the figure is based on. If the matter changes in a way that affects those assumptions, we tell you in writing before the fee changes. Chapter Two explains how that works.
Budgeting and Control
Because the fee is quoted stage by stage, you can budget for the next step and decide whether to take it. You are not committed to the whole lawsuit at the start. Each stage begins only when you authorize it in writing and the deposit for it is in trust. If a stage that the proceeding requires is not authorized, we tell you what it involves and when it has to begin, and you decide.
The fee covers the stage, including the telephone calls and emails that go with it, so you can ask questions as they come up without a separate charge for each one.
Where the Risk Sits
If a stage takes us longer than we expected, the fee does not change. The risk of the hours is ours. We accept that risk because we know what these steps involve and we have done them many times, and we would rather carry the risk of a long stage than ask you to.
What a Fixed Fee Does Not Change
The lawyer and the work are the same under either arrangement. The counsel who quotes the fee does the work, to the same standard, and the engagement letter says what each stage includes, so there is no argument later about what was bought.
The rules are the same as well. A lawyer's fee in Ontario must be fair and reasonable under the Law Society's rules whether it is fixed or hourly, money paid in advance is held in trust until it is earned and billed, and the Solicitors Act applies to the agreement. Chapter Three says more about this.
How a Fixed Fee Works.
A matter is divided into stages. Each stage has a fee, and you authorize and pay for one stage at a time. The engagement letter has the detail, and this chapter is the overview.
The Stages of a Matter
In an action in the Superior Court of Justice, the stages are, roughly, the initial assessment and the demand letter, the pleadings, documentary discovery, the examinations for discovery, any motions, mediation, the pre-trial conference, the trial and, if it comes to that, the appeal. An application, an arbitration and a regulatory proceeding have their own stages. Business work is quoted by the transaction (e.g., a share purchase from the letter of intent to closing) or by the document (e.g., a shareholders' agreement), and a business that wants a lawyer available on an ongoing basis can have an arrangement at a set monthly amount.
We quote by the stage rather than for the whole matter because nobody knows at the outset which stages a lawsuit will need. Most actions settle before trial, some after the examinations for discovery, some at mediation, and a few go to trial and on to an appeal. A single fee for the whole case would have to be priced for the worst case. Pricing each stage as it comes means you pay for the stages your matter uses.
You are not committed to the next stage. The engagement letter lists the stages you are retaining us for now, and each later stage begins when you have authorized it in writing (an email is fine) and the deposit for it is in trust.
The Quote
The fee for a stage depends on the stage and on the weight of the matter. The things that affect it are the number of parties and counsel on the other side, the volume of documents, the number of experts and witnesses, the number and novelty of the issues, the court or tribunal, and the timetable. The amount in dispute, on its own, is not one of them. A modest claim that is fought at every step costs more to run than a large one that proceeds in the ordinary course, and the fee reflects the work.
We assess the weight of the matter stage by stage, so a motion in an otherwise ordinary matter is priced as the piece of work it is. The quote for each stage sets out what we have assumed (e.g., two (2) defendants, one (1) day of examinations, a half-day mediation). The assumptions matter, because the fee is built on them, and if the matter departs from them the section on changes below applies.
The quote is in writing, before the stage begins, and it is the price of the stage. It is not an estimate, and it is not a deposit that we draw down against hourly charges.
What the Fee Covers, and What It Does Not
Each stage has a definition in the engagement letter that says what is included and what is not, and the fee covers everything that is included. For the pleadings stage of a plaintiff's action, for example, the fee covers drafting the claim, your review and a round of revisions, issuing the claim, the instructions for service, and the reply to the defence. A defence to a counterclaim, if one arrives, is a separate stage.
Disbursements are extra. These are the amounts we pay to others on your behalf (i.e., court filing fees, process servers, court reporters and transcripts, mediators and arbitrators, experts, searches, and travel outside the Greater Toronto Area). They are billed at cost, without an administrative add-on, and itemized separately on each account. Routine office expenses (i.e., photocopying, scanning, postage, couriers within Toronto and computerized legal research) are included in the fee and are not charged separately. HST is extra as well; it applies to legal fees in Ontario and to most disbursements. Work that falls outside the stages you have authorized is also extra. We call it unlisted work, we do not do it without your approval, except where an immediate step is needed to protect your position, and it is charged at our hourly rates unless we agree on a fixed fee for it first.
Trust and Billing
Before a stage begins, you pay the fee for it, together with HST and a deposit toward the disbursements we expect, into our trust account. The money remains yours while it is in trust. We bill the fee in portions as the stage reaches the points set out in the engagement letter, which we call milestones. For a statement of claim, for example, one portion is billed when the draft is delivered to you for review and the balance when the claim is issued. For a day of examinations, one portion is billed when the preparation is done and the balance when the examination is complete. When a milestone is reached, we deliver an account for that portion and for the disbursements to date, and we transfer that amount from trust. Nothing is transferred from trust before it has been earned and billed.
Our accounts describe the work done in the stage and set out the portion of the fee billed, the disbursements, the HST, and the rate of interest that applies to a late balance. They do not itemize time. We keep time records on every matter for our own purposes, but the fee is not calculated from them.
Nothing in the arrangement is described as non-refundable, because nothing is. If the matter ends, money in trust that has not been billed is returned to you. Chapter Three explains how that works.
When the Matter Changes
The fee is built on the assumptions in the quote, and lawsuits do not always stay within them. Another party may be added, a counterclaim may arrive, or a pleading may be amended in a way that calls for a response. The documents or the witnesses may turn out to be far more than assumed, the proceeding may move to the Commercial List or to arbitration, the other side may bring a motion that is not one of your stages, a hearing may be adjourned at short notice, or you may change your instructions in a way that means work has to be redone. The engagement letter lists these events. When one happens, we tell you in writing and propose what should follow; namely, a reassessment of the weight of the affected stage, a supplementary fixed fee for the added work, or hourly charges for it. Nothing changes until you accept the proposal in writing, and until then the original fee continues to apply to the work within the original definition.
A change in the law or the Rules is handled the same way. Ontario's civil procedure is under reform, and if a step that is part of a stage is abolished or replaced while your matter is under way, the fee applies to the equivalent step under the new rules, and we propose an adjustment only where the new step is substantially more or less work.
Urgent Work
Some stages have to be done in far less than the usual time, or outside office hours, because a court deadline, an injunction, a closing or a crisis requires it. A stage done in those circumstances carries a premium over the ordinary fee, which is set out in the engagement letter, and where we can we tell you in advance that we consider it to apply. Where a step cannot wait for the deposit (e.g., a Mareva injunction or a stay pending appeal), we can begin on your written instruction and your undertaking to pay the deposit within two (2) business days.
The Engagement, and the Hourly Alternative.
The hourly arrangement, what happens if a matter ends before a stage is finished, costs recovered from the other side, and the protections that apply to every retainer.
The Hourly Arrangement
Some clients prefer to pay for time as it is spent, and some matters suit it, particularly work whose scope cannot be seen at the start. On an hourly arrangement we record our time in tenths of an hour, hold an initial retainer in trust and draw it down against our accounts, and bill the time at the rates in the engagement letter as the matter proceeds, usually monthly. Our hourly rates are reviewed at the end of each year.
Both arrangements are available at the start of every new matter, and the engagement letter records which one you chose. If you ask, we will tell you which one we think suits your matter. A matter that began on an hourly arrangement can move to fixed fees at the next stage, and the reverse is also possible. A stage that is already under way is finished on the arrangement it started on.
If the Matter Ends Early
Matters settle, clients change lawyers, and sometimes a lawyer has to withdraw. If the retainer ends before an authorized stage is complete, our fee for that stage is the portion of the fee for the milestones already reached, plus a fair and reasonable fee for the work done since the last milestone, calculated at our hourly rates for the time spent and capped at the unbilled balance of the stage fee. We deliver a final account on that basis, transfer that amount from trust, and return the balance of the deposit to you within thirty (30) days. The calculation is the same whether you end the retainer or we do.
Costs and the Other Side
In Ontario the losing party usually pays part of the winning party's legal costs, in an amount fixed by the court on its own scale. A fixed fee does not change that. The court fixes costs on what it considers reasonable for the step, and the other side's exposure is set by the court's scale rather than by our fee. One rule should be understood before you choose the arrangement. Under the Solicitors Act, you cannot recover from the other side more for a piece of work than you are liable to pay us for it, so a fixed fee is also the most that can be recovered from the other side for that work.
The Engagement Letter and Your Protections
Everything on this page is in the engagement letter, in more detail. The letter sets out the stages you are retaining us for, the fee and the assumptions for each stage, the milestones, the deposit, the definitions of what each stage includes and excludes, the events that can change a fee, the hourly rates that apply to unlisted work, and what happens if the retainer ends early. You are entitled to take the time you need to review it and to obtain independent legal advice before you sign it, and the letter says so.
The Law Society of Ontario requires every lawyer's fee to be fair and reasonable, and requires money paid in advance to be held in trust. Both requirements apply to a fixed fee in the same way as they apply to an hourly fee, and the Solicitors Act applies to the agreement. A fixed fee changes how the price is set. It does not change your rights under the Act or the Law Society's rules.
Frequently asked.
The questions clients ask about fixed fees, answered in general terms. For a quote on your own matter, the intake form is the way to reach the firm.
Is a fixed fee more expensive than paying by the hour?
It can be either. A fixed fee is priced on what the stage usually involves. On a stage that proceeds smoothly, the fixed fee may be somewhat more than the hourly charges would have been, and on a stage that is contested at every step it will be less. What the fixed fee gives you is the figure in advance. The engagement letter says, in plain terms, that a fixed fee may be more or less than the hourly equivalent.
Do I have to commit to the whole lawsuit at the start?
No. You retain us for the first stage or stages, and each later stage begins only when you authorize it in writing and the deposit for it is in trust. The engagement letter lists the later stages the matter may need, with an indicative range for each so that you can budget. A range is not a quote, and the fee for a later stage is confirmed in writing when you authorize it. You are under no obligation to authorize any stage beyond the ones you have retained us for.
What happens if the other side drags things out?
The fee for a stage covers the work within that stage, however much correspondence and however many drafts it takes. A step the other side forces that falls outside your stages, such as a motion they bring, is a separate stage or a change in the assumptions, and in either case we tell you in writing and propose a fee before anything changes. Delay on its own does not increase a fee. Additional work can, and only with your written agreement.
What if the case settles halfway through a stage?
You pay the portions of the fee for the milestones already reached, plus a fair and reasonable fee for the work since the last milestone at our hourly rates, and never more than the unbilled balance of the stage fee. The balance of the deposit is returned to you within thirty (30) days. Most clients want their matter to settle, and the arrangement does not penalize settlement.
Is the fee refundable?
The fee is paid into our trust account before the stage begins, and it remains your money until a milestone is reached and billed. Nothing in the arrangement is non-refundable. If the retainer ends, whatever has not been earned and billed is returned to you.
Does a fixed fee mean the file gets less attention?
No. The same lawyer does the work, to the same standard, and the engagement letter sets out what each stage includes. The fee for a stage is earned by completing the work in it, and you review the work at each milestone, so there is no incentive to do less.
Can business and corporate work be done on a fixed fee?
Yes. A transaction is quoted as a whole, from the term sheet or letter of intent through closing, with the assumptions stated, or by the document where that is what you need. A business that wants a lawyer available on an ongoing basis can have an arrangement at a set monthly amount, with the scope written down. The scope of a transaction is set by the other side and by the timetable as much as by you, so those quotes are prepared for the particular deal.
What about disbursements and HST?
They are extra, and we say so in every quote and every account. Disbursements are the amounts paid to others on your behalf (i.e., court fees, process servers, court reporters and transcripts, mediators, arbitrators, experts, searches and travel outside Toronto), billed at cost with no add-on and itemized separately. Routine office expenses are included in the fee. HST applies to legal fees and to most disbursements. Larger third-party invoices are usually sent to you for direct payment.
If I win, does the other side pay my fixed fee?
Not as such. In Ontario the losing party usually pays part of the winner's costs, in an amount the court fixes on its own scale, and that amount is rarely the whole of what a client has paid under any arrangement. A fixed fee does not increase what the other side pays, and under the Solicitors Act you cannot recover from the other side more for a piece of work than you are liable to pay us for it. We explain the likely costs position for your matter before you choose.
Can I switch from hourly to fixed fees, or back?
Yes, at the next stage. A matter that began on an hourly arrangement can move to fixed fees when the next stage is authorized, and a fixed fee matter can move to hourly charges in the same way. A stage that is already under way is finished on the arrangement it started on.
Most clients want to know what a matter will cost before they decide. With a fixed fee, we can tell you in writing.
Describe the matter on the intake form. If it is one the firm can take, a lawyer replies within two (2) business days with the next step, and the quote for the first stage follows in the engagement letter. If you would rather retain the firm on an hourly basis, say so on the form, and the engagement letter is prepared on that basis.
I have a claim to bring, or one to defend.
A lawsuit, an application, an arbitration, an appeal or a regulatory matter in Ontario, at any stage. You want to know what the first stage will cost and which arrangement suits the matter.
Start intake → A transaction or ongoing adviceI need an agreement drafted, a transaction closed, or a lawyer on call.
A shareholders' agreement, a share or asset purchase, a reorganization, or an ongoing arrangement for a business that needs counsel available. You want the price before the work starts.
Start intake →