Lynda ArtesaniLegal Accountant and Data Migration Specialist at The Proper Trust

The Hidden Cost Trap - Are Lawyers Focusing on the Wrong Fees? #legalaccounting #lawfirms

6 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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In this commentary, the speaker—drawing on 25 years of experience working with attorneys—observes that many law firms become preoccupied with chasing tiny credit‑card and bank fees (e.g., $5‑$10) instead of focusing on substantially larger revenue opportunities (e.g., $1,000). The speaker notes that legal clients are generally unaccustomed to paying credit‑card surcharges and perceive them as nickel‑and‑diming, which can trigger strong negative reactions. An illustrative anecdote describes a client being told to pay an additional $45 credit‑card fee, leading the client to feel they have just lost several thousand dollars. The overall message is that attorneys are mis‑aligning their fee‑management priorities, fixating on minor transaction costs while overlooking more impactful financial levers.

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I've been working with attorneys for 25 years now or whatever, and I have seen this trend in all of those years that they get so tied up in credit card fees and bank fees and chasing $5 here and $10 there, as opposed to paying attention to $1,000 over here. You know, it's just crazy how they get hung up on those fees. And yeah. Legal clients are not accustomed to paying credit card fees. They feel like they're being nickeled and dimed. And, you know, there's this feeling out there, for lack of better words, that attorneys, you know, I'm gonna go get an attorney and oh my gosh, he's gonna charge me all this money and blah, blah, blah. And then me as the attorney says, well, by the way, Sarah, you have to pay a credit card fee on top of it, so it's gonna be another $45. Oh my gosh, you just blew several thousand dollars right there.