One of the leading causes of client dissatisfaction in the legal industry is poor communication.  At Vaughn & Smith, we are committed to ensuring that our clients do not suffer from this unnecessary problem.

Accordingly, we created our monthly Client Connection updates.  If you are current on your bill, we will schedule a monthly free call with you to discuss the status of your case.  This call is limited to no more than ten minutes, and it can only be used during the scheduled call time.

You will see the call on your itemized billing, but it will indicate that you were not charged for the call.

Hourly billing is the most common billing method across the legal service industry.  Essentially, you pay an hourly rate for the time members of the firm work on your case.

Vaughn & Smith’s billable hour is broken up into an industry-low six-minute increment.  So, if a member of Vaughn & Smith was working on your case for six minutes, you would pay their hourly rate times 1/10^th.

Knowing a firm’s billing increment is important when comparing different firms’ legal representation.  Some firms bill in ten or fifteen-minute increments.  That means for that same 6 minutes of work you would pay the hourly rate times 1/6^th or even 1/4^th.

If the hourly rate was $200 an hour then 1/10^th of an hour would be $20, 1/6^th of an hour would be $33 and 1/4^th of an hour would be $50.

Every month we will e-mail you an itemized bill that will reflect the date the work was performed, what work was performed, how long it took, who performed it, and what it cost you.

We do not charge for normal overhead expenses such as first-class mail, routine photocopies, long-distance telephone or Zoom remote video service.

All fees are payable in full when billed.  Failure to timely pay monthly bills in full shall result in the termination of all legal representation. 

However, Vaughn & Smith does have several payment options.

Payments in cash or check are acceptable.

Visa and Mastercard credit cards may be used to pay the “fee” portion of monthly invoices, but not the “costs” portion.  Any payment made with a Visa or Mastercard card is subject to a six percent (6%) service fee. Credit cards may not be used for the initial or trial retainer.

A handling charge of one and one‑half percent (1.5%) per month will be added to all sums due over fifteen (15) days.