There are certain factors that contribute to the final figure charged by criminal defense lawyers to clients for their legal fees. Therefore, a criminal defense lawyer who is tasked to defend his client against criminal charges in court cannot simply charge fees arbitrarily. It is the purpose of this article to understand what those factors are and how those factors eventually end up making up a huge part of the final determination of the amount the lawyer will charge his client.
There is one thing that you should keep in mind before we go any further. Legal fees are not charged by lawyers at random. It is different from your usual buyer-seller relationship, which is done on a basis where the seller charges any amount that he thinks the buyer is willing to pay. There are certain rules - the quanta of counsel remuneration - which governs the determination of the legal fees of lawyers. These rules have to be followed. It, however, tends to name the minimum figures that can be charged by the lawyers.
The idea is to avoid a situation where some lawyers would end up undercutting their professional colleagues, making the profession lose its prestige (as lawyers start competing on 'price'). But it is also worth noting that though they normally do a good job in terms of specifying the minimum fees that lawyers should charge, the rules normally leave a lot of leeway in terms of the ceilings (the highest figures chargeable). As a result, many lawyers take this as an opportunity to set their legal fees in such a way that they vary from lawyer to lawyer. But these variations also spring from a number of other factors and circumstances.
First, the criminal defense lawyer would have to look into the type of case he would have to handle in order to have an idea how much he should charge. A lawyer would obviously charge more for a case where he has to mount a defense for a murder case as compared to a case of petty theft. The justification for the higher fees charged to the client facing a murder case would be in the fact that such a case is likely to be long drawn out. The lawyer would also be expected to conduct more planning and more in-depth research in order to build a strong case for his client. This is an obvious reason for the increase in the legal fees.
The stage of the criminal trial where the lawyers entered and were retained to represent the clients is also taken into consideration. Thus, for any given case, a lawyer who is engaged right from the beginning is (quite naturally) likely to charge more than one who is engaged at some point within the life of the proceedings.
It would also appear that, to some extent, the legal fees charged by criminal defense lawyers depend on the professional profiles of the respective lawyers. Naturally, the high-profile lawyers would earn more since they would charge more in legal fees than the lawyers who have a modest standing or are still considered 'upcoming'.
There is one thing that you should keep in mind before we go any further. Legal fees are not charged by lawyers at random. It is different from your usual buyer-seller relationship, which is done on a basis where the seller charges any amount that he thinks the buyer is willing to pay. There are certain rules - the quanta of counsel remuneration - which governs the determination of the legal fees of lawyers. These rules have to be followed. It, however, tends to name the minimum figures that can be charged by the lawyers.The idea is to avoid a situation where some lawyers would end up undercutting their professional colleagues, making the profession lose its prestige (as lawyers start competing on 'price'). But it is also worth noting that though they normally do a good job in terms of specifying the minimum fees that lawyers should charge, the rules normally leave a lot of leeway in terms of the ceilings (the highest figures chargeable). As a result, many lawyers take this as an opportunity to set their legal fees in such a way that they vary from lawyer to lawyer. But these variations also spring from a number of other factors and circumstances.
First, the criminal defense lawyer would have to look into the type of case he would have to handle in order to have an idea how much he should charge. A lawyer would obviously charge more for a case where he has to mount a defense for a murder case as compared to a case of petty theft. The justification for the higher fees charged to the client facing a murder case would be in the fact that such a case is likely to be long drawn out. The lawyer would also be expected to conduct more planning and more in-depth research in order to build a strong case for his client. This is an obvious reason for the increase in the legal fees.
The stage of the criminal trial where the lawyers entered and were retained to represent the clients is also taken into consideration. Thus, for any given case, a lawyer who is engaged right from the beginning is (quite naturally) likely to charge more than one who is engaged at some point within the life of the proceedings.
It would also appear that, to some extent, the legal fees charged by criminal defense lawyers depend on the professional profiles of the respective lawyers. Naturally, the high-profile lawyers would earn more since they would charge more in legal fees than the lawyers who have a modest standing or are still considered 'upcoming'.
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