Lynda ArtesaniLegal Accountant and Data Migration Specialist at The Proper Trust

The Fixed Fee Fear - “What if I don’t charge enough ” #lawfirms #legalaccounting #attorneyfees

14 Sept 2026 · 0 min

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0:27

In this segment, the speaker addresses a common anxiety among attorneys shifting to fixed‑fee billing: the fear of undercharging. Using family‑law divorce cases as a concrete illustration, she explains how case complexity can vary dramatically—from straightforward, mutually‑agreed divorces to protracted, high‑effort disputes. This variability makes it challenging to set a fixed price without risking a loss if the case becomes more demanding than anticipated. The speaker highlights the tension between the desire to offer packaged fees and the need to protect the firm’s profitability.

But when you start to transition attorneys into that fixed fee billing, they're always afraid, what if I don't charge enough? How do I figure this out? Because sometimes it is hard to figure out. Divorce is a great example. So you get an attorney that's family law doing divorce cases. A divorce case could walk in, everybody agrees, all the parties agree, and it's simple. That's usually not the case. And then it becomes big, full-on. If there's a lot of time involved, they don't want to package it and then lose money on it because they're putting more time and effort into it. But with that said,