03 — Fees
Published, because you are going to ask anyway.
An hourly rate asks a business to carry a risk the law firm is better placed to price. We use it for litigation, where nobody can scope the work honestly, and for very little else.
Fixed fee
Most contract work is quoted before it starts.
These are the figures we quote most often. Yours is confirmed in writing after a call, and it does not move.
Shareholders agreement, two to five holders
R28,000
Including one round of amendments after your accountant has read it
Shareholders agreement, six or more
From R42,000
Buy-sell and valuation mechanics usually add a week
Standard terms of supply or service
R18,500
Drafted for your sector rather than adapted from a template
Commercial lease, reviewed and negotiated
R14,000
Tenant or landlord side
Franchise agreement, reviewed for a franchisee
R16,000
Including the disclosure document and the CPA position
Restraint of trade, drafted or reviewed
R9,500
Per agreement, whatever the number of employees on the same terms
SaaS terms for enterprise customers
R32,000
Master agreement, order form and data processing addendum
POPIA baseline: policy, PAIA manual, operator agreements
From R38,000
Scoped after a one-hour review of what you already have
Excluding VAT. Illustrative figures on a demonstration site; a real firm would state the date these took effect.
Monthly retainer
For the questions that never justify opening a file.
Most of our manufacturing and franchising clients are on one. It is the arrangement that stops people not phoning because they are worried about the bill.
Light
Up to four hours of advice, contract review and calls. Unused hours do not roll over.
R9,500 a month
Standard
Up to ten hours, plus first-call priority and a quarterly review of your standard documents.
R21,000 a month
Embedded
A named director with allocated days, for businesses that would otherwise be hiring in-house.
From R46,000 a month
Hourly
Litigation, and nothing else.
Where the other side controls half the work, nobody can quote it honestly in advance. Everywhere else, an hourly rate is a firm declining to take a view.
Director
R3,100
Per hour, excluding VAT
Senior associate
R2,150
Per hour, excluding VAT
Associate
R1,450
Per hour, excluding VAT
Candidate attorney
R750
Per hour, excluding VAT
How we bill
Four things that hold on every matter.
A fixed fee is fixed
If the work turns out to be larger than we scoped, that is our estimate that was wrong rather than your invoice that goes up. The only exception is a change in your instructions, and we will say so before we act on it.
A cap is a ceiling, not a target
On capped work you are billed for hours actually spent, up to the cap. Most capped matters come in below it, and we do not round up to it.
Disbursements are at cost
Counsel, experts, sheriffs, searches, CIPC. Passed on at what they cost us with the invoice attached, and never incurred without telling you first.
Narrations in English
Your invoice says what was done and why. "Attending to various matters" is not a narration, it is a way of not being asked questions.
