What It Costs to Work With a Lawyer

Yes. No intake fee, no evaluation charge, no obligation. You will find out on that call whether you have a problem that needs a lawyer or a problem that needs a decision, and if it is the second one we will say so and you will owe us nothing.

Yes. A single hour of consultation starts at $500, with no retainer and no engagement beyond the hour. For a lot of owners facing a default, one focused hour is the whole answer. Bring the agreements, the notices, and the last 90 days of account activity, and you leave knowing what the documents actually say, which position is the real problem, what the other side can do next, and what your options are. Some people take that hour and handle the rest themselves. That is a legitimate outcome and we will not talk you out of it.

For a small matter before litigation, a retainer can start as low as $3,000. What moves that number is how many positions are in the stack, how far the matter has already gone, the amount in controversy, and whether you want a negotiated resolution or a litigated one. A demand letter is early. A filed complaint is not. A judgment with a restraining notice already served is later still.

Often, yes. An initial payment followed by monthly installments written into the engagement letter is a normal arrangement and a normal thing to ask for. If cash flow is the obstacle rather than the total, say so on the first call. It is far easier to build in at the start than to renegotiate later.

Often, yes, and the structure is what makes it possible rather than the total. Being behind is the normal condition of the people who call us, not a disqualifier. On larger stacks, a hybrid of retainer plus contingency is sometimes the better structure for the client. Whether it fits depends on the positions, the posture, and what a realistic resolution looks like. Terms are set in a written engagement letter, not on a phone call and not on a website.

It depends mostly on where the file already sits. A matter still in agency collection is generally less expensive to resolve than one referred to Treasury, because referral adds collection fees and shifts negotiating authority to Treasury and its private collection agencies unless the debt is recalled. The other drivers are the size of the balance, whether a personal guaranty is in play, and whether there is a real dispute about the underlying obligation or only about how to resolve it. SBA and Treasury collection is a federal process, so the same work applies whether the business is in New York or New Jersey. If the matter reaches a lawsuit, the firm is admitted in both New York and New Jersey, so a New Jersey business does not need separate counsel in each state for a matter that sits in either one.

Then we tell you that. If the cost of defending exceeds any realistic benefit, you should hear it before you spend the money rather than after. We would rather you called and found out you did not need us than never called at all.