Step-by-step cost estimates with the arithmetic shown, retainer and consultation checklists, and how to read a legal bill.
A lawyer's estimate is only useful if you know what it assumes. This group turns legal work into numbers you can check: hours by stage, the hourly rates of the people doing the work, disbursements and tax, the money you may get back in a costs award, and what a contingency fee leaves in your hands after a settlement.
Begin with the checklist for hiring a lawyer and budgeting the cost, which links to every guide here. The others cover how retainers and trust deposits work, what a first consultation costs and how to prepare for it, a worked estimate for a civil lawsuit from demand letter to trial, the loser-pays costs rules, a contingency fee settlement worked through to the net amount, and how to read the line items on a lawyer's invoice.
The litigation budget estimator, the contingency fee calculator and the costs recovery estimator let you repeat the arithmetic with your own figures, and the hiring checklist keeps track of what you have asked. Every figure in the worked examples is illustrative.
Worked Estimates and Hiring Checklists
A stage-by-stage cost estimate for a Canadian civil lawsuit, from demand letter to trial, with hours, rates, disbursements, tax and costs awards worked out and compared.
Worked Estimates and Hiring Checklists
A personal injury settlement worked through to the net amount: contingency percentage, costs, HST, disbursements, interest on disbursements and subrogated claims, with checks.
Worked Estimates and Hiring Checklists
How Canadian courts order the losing side to pay legal costs: partial and substantial indemnity, offers to settle, BC and Alberta tariffs, Quebec's different rule and worked examples.
Worked Estimates and Hiring Checklists
Free, flat-fee and hourly first consultations with Canadian lawyers explained, the Ontario referral service, a preparation checklist and the questions that save money later.
Worked Estimates and Hiring Checklists
Step-by-step checklist for hiring a lawyer in Canada on a budget, with the questions to ask, what the retainer should say and a worked budget from first call to final bill.
Worked Estimates and Hiring Checklists
A line-by-line guide to a Canadian legal invoice: time dockets, billing increments, block billing, disbursements, tax and trust transfers, with a worked check of a sample bill.
Worked Estimates and Hiring Checklists
What a lawyer's retainer deposit is in Canada, how trust accounts and evergreen retainers work, a worked trust ledger, refunds and the questions to ask before you pay.
