Strategies For Reduction Of Legal Costs

In the July 2008 edition of the Community Association Management Insider, publication, there was a featured article delineating five essential ways that a community can reduce their legal costs.

Ott & Associates Co., LPA proudly reports that we already exercise a number of these cost reduction strategies to better serve our community association clients and to strive to prove cost effective, high quality legal services to you.

Avoid paying to train an attorney. Hiring an attorney who has experience with community association law can save money for the association because the attorney is well versed in the areas of law that govern associations. You do not have to pay for an inexperienced attorney to research an issue that an experienced attorney already knows by virtue of years in practice. Find out how much experience an attorney has with your problem and find out who will be performing the work involved with your issue. At Ott & Associates Co., LPA, collectively the attorneys have over 30 years of experience with community association law and related areas of law.

Many attorneys often use paralegals whose rates may be lower than the experienced attorney’s rates, which can result in the association receiving services at a lower cost.

Ask about flat fees. Generally, attorneys bill by the hour, therefore, the more time they put in, the higher the cost to the association. The benefit of flat fee services is cost certainty for the association. It is often difficult to predict what will happen in litigation, therefore, flat fee pricing can be difficult. However there are other services your attorney provides that can be cost effective for the association. Ott & Associates Co., LPA currently uses flat rate services in our collection procedures as a matter of course. In addition, we often will draft an amendment to the governing documents at a flat rate.

Ask for estimates if charged hourly. Litigation is often hard to predict, resulting in an unknown amount of attorney fees charged to the association. However, there are things the association can request to help control or at least keep tabs on the costs of a case. One such option is establishing a cap on fees. When this cap is reached, the attorney must contact you for consent before adding to your bill. Another is asking for a range of fees. An experienced attorney will be able to give you a range, providing the case follows a “normal” course. Often an experienced attorney can gauge fees based on similar cases the office has handled.

Limit administrative costs. Often these types of incidental costs add up and can cost the association a great deal of money. Administration costs include annual retainers or service options, copies, faxes, postage, hand deliveries, meals, and transportation costs to and from court or meetings.

Ott & Associates does not charge our association clients an annual service option or retainer, nor do we charge for regular copies, regular postage, faxes, meals, and transportation costs. Occasionally, when express mail is used, an outside courier service is needed, or there are extraordinarily large copy jobs or color copying, those costs are passed to the associations. However, none of the day-to-day copying and postage fees are charged to the association.

Limit charges for telephone calls. Most attorneys will charge their normal hourly rate for telephone calls. This can often be expensive and deter you from calling in fear of being charged to talk to your attorney. Ott & Associates has had a long-standing policy to not charge our association clients for telephone calls with the board or with your property managers. It is our goal that you do not feel any pressure that we are “on the clock” while discussing your issues. We strive to provide the association with the highest quality legal services at costs the association can afford.

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