Nearly every day someone contacts our law firm requesting we provide a blind free quote for business contracts, website legal documents, software development agreements, or other legal services.
And when we politely refuse, they sometimes get offended.
A few do it in bad faith. They’re bottom feeders trying to get something for nothing, i.e. looking for high end legal services at discount prices. They typically adopt a “how dare you!” attitude when we decline to provide a blind quote.
However, others who contact us requesting a blind free quote simply don’t understand that it would be a disservice to them.
Why?
Because the attorney doesn’t know the scope of the work involved.
If anything, such a quote is an inaccurate ballpark guesstimate without knowing essential facts.
The guesstimate range can vary by hundreds or thousands of dollars because the prospective client’s self-identified need often doesn’t reflect what must be done from a legal standpoint.
Imagine contacting a doctor’s office and requesting a quote in advance to make you feel better without having a diagnosis of what’s actually wrong. At most, they’ll tell you the doctor’s consultation fee.
You might think you’re running a temperature because of a bacterial infection…but how do you really know? Perhaps your appendix is ready to burst.
Of course, antibiotics cost much less than an emergency appendectomy. So, there’s really no way the doctor’s office can provide an accurate quote without identifying your true medical condition.
Self-diagnosis isn’t the way to go for either legal or medical problems. And that’s why you should have a consultation with a professional who can identify what’s actually the problem and the possible solutions for fixing it.
Now we do have some flat fee protection packages available. And we stand behind the quotes for those packages. However, we won’t know for sure which package (if any) makes sense before talking with the prospective client during an initial consultation by telephone.
During your initial phone consultation with one of our attorneys, your business legal issues that need to be resolved are identified. If there’s additional work to be done after the consultation, we can provide a firm flat fee quote that accurately reflects the scope of work to be performed so there are no surprises.
