Money and time are important facts for a client to consider in a family law case.  Family law issues can be complex, time-consuming, and expensive.  We believe in discussing fees with our clients during the initial consultation, including the hourly rate our firm charges, the amount of the initial deposit that you will pay to our firm to retain our services, the approximate time we expect it will take to resolve your case, the possibility of requesting an award of attorney's fees as reimbursement to you, and other matters.  It is our belief that a client who knows important billing information will be better informed and more satisfied with the services we render.  Such a client will also have a clear understanding of what our charges are and what we have done for the fees paid by our clients.

INITIAL CONSULTATION

Because of the detailed and confidential nature of our work, we prefer to conduct in-person initial consultations, rather than by telephone or email.  However, we do make exceptions for those clients who live outside of the local area.  If you are involved in a family law dispute in North Carolina and live outside of this state, contact us for details on scheduling an initial consultation.  

To discuss your legal situation with an attorney, you may contact our office to set up an initial consultation with Ms. Ward, Ms. Campbell, or Ms. Carswell.  Ms. Ward charges $300.00 for the initial consultation, Ms. Campbell charges $250.00, and Ms. Carswell charges $200.00.  The attorneys typically meet with prospective clients for about one to two hours during the initial consultation.  Please make sure to allow yourself at least two hours of time for the initial consultation with the attorney.

During the initial consultation, the attorney will obtain a history of your legal matter, ascertain various facts, advise you of the law, and counsel you on what steps you should take to protect your legal interests.  Additionally, based on your particular legal issues, we may request that you bring certain documentation with you to review during the initial consultation, such information may include, any lawsuits that have been filed, previous orders or agreements, wage earning statements, tax returns, etc.  This will all depend on your specific legal situation. 

Please contact us to schedule an appointment with one of our attorneys. 

FEES FOR REPRESENTATION

In most cases, we bill for legal services on an hourly basis.  What this means is that all billable time for your case will be charged in tenths of hours and will be rounded up to the nearest one‑tenth of an hour.  A one-tenth of an hour minimum is imposed on all time charges.  Billable time includes all time spent on your case including conferences, telephone calls, pretrial discovery, trial preparation, document drafting, correspondence and pleadings, negotiations, legal research, court time, and travel to and from locations away from our office, mediations, arbitrations, etc.  Any figures we quote you for the total cost of our services are merely estimates.  Your adversary, the opposing party or others may engage in activities beyond our control that require time that was originally not contemplated.  Seldom do we charge a “flat fee” for domestic cases for the simple reason that it is impossible to tell how difficult or complex a case may be.  Some cases may take a year or more to resolve, while other cases, which may have appeared very complicated initially, may soon settle after lawyers are retained.  It is our firm’s belief that clients should only pay for the work that we do.  Therefore, because of the unpredictability of family law cases and the potential for settlement early in the process, we believe that the hourly billing method is the fairest method for billing for our services.  We will discuss with you specific fees for your case once we have had an opportunity to interview you and determine the facts and objectives in your case.  Please feel free to ask any questions you wish about fees.  Our goal, above all, is to counsel and maintain clients who are well informed and are satisfied with the services we render for them.

In most cases, additional expenses are incurred as a result of the representation.  Some examples of these costs include filing fees at the courthouse, service fees to the sheriff or a private process server, deposition transcripts, investigative reports, expert witnesses, etc.  The client is responsible for paying for these fees.

HIRING OUR FIRM

In order to retain our firm, you will be required to execute an Agreement for Employment of Legal Counsel and pay an initial deposit towards the representation.  The amount of the initial deposit will depend on the issues involved, the complexity of the issues, and the time required for your case.  However, most initial deposits range from $3,000.00 to $10,000.00.  The initial deposit will be held in our firm’s trust account.  Each month our firm sends clients a detailed statement outlining all work performed on the client’s case and showing the amount of the client’s funds on deposit that have been withdrawn from trust and applied toward the statements rendered.   Upon the rendering of our statement, the client will be required to pay to us sufficient funds to replenish the deposit and pay the balance of any statement remaining unpaid after the funds already on deposit are depleted.  We will refund to you any balance remaining in our trust account, which is not needed to satisfy the balance of your account with the firm.

Linda K. Ward bills at $250.00 per hour for legal services.
Rachel C. Campbell bills at $200.00 per hour for legal services.
Sasha L. Carswell bills at $175.00 per hour for legal services.
Ann Adam’s administrative services are charged at $75.00 per hour.
Christy Dixon’s administrative services are charged at $75.00 per hour.

The material provided in this Website has been prepared by Ward & Campbell, P.C., for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. Transmission of this information does not create an attorney-client relationship between the sender and receiver. Online readers should not act on information they learn from this Website without first seeking counsel from an attorney about their particular legal situation. Linda K. Ward, Rachel C. Campbell, and Sasha L. Carswell are licensed to practice law only in the State of North Carolina.