The Fee Arrangements feature in your CaseCloud application provides flexible and customizable billing structures tailored to various legal engagements. It supports traditional and alternative billing models, including hourly, fixed, capped, and contingency fees.
Key Components:
- Fee Arrangements: Templates defining billing structures.
- Matter Fee Arrangements: Fee arrangements are applied to specific matters.
- Fee Arrangement Features: Granular rules by UTBMS codes or Roles to customize cost and price within arrangements.
👉 Example: You can set up Fixed Fee, Capped Fee, or Contingency Fee types within your matters.
1. Fee Arrangements
A Fee Arrangement is a pre-configured billing structure that standardizes how fees are calculated for matters. It serves as a reusable template.
Creation Steps: Refer to this article.
Attributes:
- Type: Fixed, Capped, or Contingency - Defines the type of fee arrangement to be created.
- Name, Description, Active Status - Defines basic attributes associated with your fee arrangement.
- Recurrence Schedule (for periodic billing) - Defines a schedule on which your fee arrangement will be automatically applied to the matters.
- Include Expenses (capped fee only) - Defines whether the fee arrangement applying logic includes or excludes expenses from its computations.
Relationships:
- Serves as a parent template for Matter Fee Arrangements.
- Can include Features (code and role-based rules).
2. Matter Fee Arrangements
A Matter Fee Arrangement is an instance of a Fee Arrangement applied to a particular matter. It inherits the template’s settings but can be customized.
Creation Steps: Refer to this article.
Attributes:
- Matter - Allows you to add the fee arrangement to your selected matter.
- Source Fee Arrangement - The Fee Arrangement that should be identified as the source fee arrangement being added to the matter.
- Matter Price - The price at which the matter fee arrangement is being added to the matter.
- Recurrence - This option defines the scheduling capability for your fee arrangement on the matter. Based on the option chosen here, this particular fee arrangement will be automatically applied according to the schedule.
- Start/End Dates - The Start and End dates mark the period within which the fee arrangement is supposed to apply to the matter.
- Default Flags - The default flags for Fee/Expenses allow the chosen fee arrangement to be set by default for newly entered fees and expenses related to the matter.
Relationship:
- Each Matter Fee Arrangement originates from a Fee Arrangement and governs how billing is executed for that specific matter.
3. Fee Arrangement Features
Enhance flexibility by defining cost and price rules for the fee arrangements based on:
- UTBMS Codes
- Roles
A fee arrangement can be configured per UTBMS Code or Role so that a specific fee arrangement gets applied when fees and expenses are logged for the matter.
Various characteristics of the fee arrangement are configured as per the key points defined below.
Key Points:
- Feature-based configuration (Not generally applicable for Capped Fee arrangements).
- Each feature specifies:
- Type (Code/Role) - This allows the fee arrangement to be applied to the logged fee or expense for the matter.
- Cost & Price - Provide the cost and price information that defines the fee arrangement specific to the selected feature type.
- Unit Cap / No Cap - Provide the Unit Cap or No Cap information to ensure the fee arrangement is applied to the applicable fee based on the Unit Cap/No Cap information provided here.
- Use Timekeeper Default Rate - If enabled, it allows the use of the Timekeeper's default rate instead of the fee arrangement when logged fees are applied.
- Row actions: Edit, Delete, Clone - These are individual row actions available to manage your features within fee arrangements.
How to Add:
- Use the Easy Add Wizard to select Type → Code/Role → Set pricing.
- Clone features easily for reuse across arrangements.
4. Relationships & Dependencies
The Hierarchy of Fee Arrangements, Matter Fee Arrangements, and Features:
→ Fee Arrangement (Template)
→ → Matter Fee Arrangement (Instance per Matter)
→ → → Fee Arrangement Features (Optional rules by Code/Role)
Impact:
- Changes to a Fee Arrangement template do NOT automatically update existing Matter Fee Arrangements.
- Features define granular billing — adding/removing features affects how Time and Expenses are calculated.
- Capped Fees rely solely on caps; features don’t apply.
5. Usage Examples
Below are practical examples of how your law firm might use Fixed Fee, Capped Fee, and Contingency Fee arrangements in daily case work, aligned with typical practice areas:
Scenario:
A corporate client requires a standard employment contract to be drafted. The firm knows from experience that this work usually requires 5–7 attorney hours.
How to apply:
- Create a Fixed Fee Arrangement called “Standard Employment Contract – Flat Fee.”
- Set Price = $1,200.
- Set Recurrence = One Time.
- Add Features (optional):
- UTBMS Code: L140 — Document/Contract Drafting → Cost: $500, Price: $1,200, Unit Cap: 7 hrs.
- Role: Associate Attorney → to track who performs the work.
- Apply this arrangement as a Matter Fee Arrangement on the client’s matter record.
Benefit:
The client pays a predictable cost; the firm manages the scope to stay profitable.
Scenario:
A mid-sized startup retains your firm as their Outside General Counsel for day-to-day corporate legal advice, contract reviews, and regulatory guidance. Instead of hourly billing, they pay a flat monthly fee for a bundle of services.
How to apply:
- Create a Fixed Fee Arrangement named “Outside General Counsel – Monthly Retainer.”
- Price: $5,000 per month.
- Recurrence: Monthly.
- Active: Yes.
- This is a Template: Yes.
- Optional Features (to track cost by type of work):
- Code: C100 — Fact Gathering/Research — Unit Cap: 10 hrs.
- Code: C200 — Analysis/Strategy — Unit Cap: 15 hrs.
- Role: Corporate Attorney.
- Create a Matter Fee Arrangement using this template for the client’s matter.
- Set Start Date: e.g., Jan 1.
- Set End Date: e.g., Dec 31.
How it works:
- The client is billed $5,000 monthly.
- All included work is tracked; excess hours may be billed separately or carried over, per agreement.
Benefit:
Provides predictable revenue for the firm and budget certainty for the client, fostering a long-term relationship.
Scenario:
A law firm offers a special package for the initial phase of document review in a litigation case. To provide an initial cost incentive, the first 5 hours of review are billed at a discounted unit price, while any additional hours are billed at the timekeeper’s standard rate.
How to apply:
- Create or edit a Fixed Fee Arrangement for the litigation matter.
- Enable the Bill at Unit Price feature in the arrangement settings.
- Configure the feature with details such as:
- Unit Cap: 5
- Price: $100/hour
- Default Timekeeper Rate: $200/hour
- Apply the arrangement as a Matter Fee Arrangement on the client’s matter record.
How it works:
- Time entries logged up to the 5-hour unit cap are billed at the discounted rate of $100/hour.
- Any time entries beyond 5 hours automatically revert to the standard timekeeper rate of $200/hour.
Benefit:
This approach simplifies billing workflows while offering an upfront cost advantage to the client. It also ensures billing accuracy and transparency, with a clear distinction between unit price billing and default rate billing once the cap is exceeded.
Scenario:
For a complex commercial litigation, the client agrees to pay hourly rates for document review and interrogatories, but wants an upper limit to control costs.
How to apply:
- Create a Capped Fee Arrangement called “Discovery Phase – Capped Fee.”
- Set Price = $25,000 cap.
- Include Expenses = true (e.g., printing, court filing).
- Recurrence = One Time.
- No features apply (capped fees don’t use features).
- Apply as a Matter Fee Arrangement for the discovery phase.
Execution:
Hourly billing continues until the $25,000 limit is reached; further work is either renegotiated or billed separately.
Benefit:
Aligns the client’s cost control with the firm’s flexibility for additional work if needed.
Scenario:
A plaintiff hires the firm for a slip-and-fall claim. The firm agrees to be paid only if the client wins, taking 33% of the settlement.
How to apply:
- Create a Contingency Fee Arrangement called “Slip and Fall – Contingency.”
- Contingency Percentage = 33%.
- Mark as Active and Template.
- On the matter, create a Matter Fee Arrangement using this template.
- Use the Manage Parties component to define:
- Plaintiff: John Doe
- Representatives: The firm’s partners share the contingency portion.
- Use the Settlement Calculator to:
- Enter estimated settlement, expenses, and tax withholding.
- Calculate expected revenue and disbursement.
Benefit:
The client pays nothing up front. The firm is incentivized to win or settle for the highest possible amount.
Scenario:
For divorce cases, the firm offers a fixed retainer that covers up to 10 hours of legal drafting, plus up to 5 hours of mediation, tracked by UTBMS code and role.
How to apply:
- Create a Fixed Fee Arrangement called “Divorce Retainer.”
- Price = $3,500.
- Add Features:
- Code: L120 — Pleadings — Unit Cap: 10 hrs.
- Code: L450 — Mediation — Unit Cap: 5 hrs.
- Role: Family Law Associate.
- Apply this to the client’s matter as a Matter Fee Arrangement.
- Time entries exceeding unit caps can be billed at standard rates.
Benefit:
Protects both the client and the firm from runaway costs while allowing for transparent scope tracking.
6. Best Practices & Tips
- Use multiple Templates for consistency.
- Prefer Role or Code-based features for advanced control.
- Mark the Matter Fee Arrangements as Default to auto-apply them during time or expense entries.
- Regularly review and clone existing arrangements to save time.
7. Troubleshooting & FAQs
Q: Why can’t I add features to a Capped Fee?
A: Capped Fee uses a price cap only; granular features are ignored.
Q: Why is my Matter Fee Arrangement not applying automatically?
A: Ensure:
The Default for Fees/Expenses is enabled on the matter fee arrangement.
The Matter Fee Arrangement field is enabled and added within the fieldsets for Time and Expenses forms.
The New Time and New Expense actions are properly overridden to use the CaseCloud shipped action override forms.
Q: How do I manage parties and settlements?
A: Use the Manage Parties and Settlement Calculator components.