4 years ago
They are competent and thorough but charge exorbit...
They are competent and thorough but charge exorbitantly. Miniscule tasks such as reading a short email, talking to a colleague, sending an invoice, etc are all billed separately for at least one 6 minute block, even if there are a succession of tiny tasks done on the same day. Each 6 minute block is around $45 or more. An email and its response can easily be over $100, with nothing in the least bit complex. They seem to either refuse to give an estimate, or give an estimate where they then go well over the top end, though to be fair in one case they charged according to the agreed maximum, despite time exceeding the estimate, and in another case they gave $500 discount although the charged cost still exceeded the upper limit of the estimate by $700. I know all lawyers bill in 6 minute blocks, but they don't all break everything down to the smallest granularity to bill separately for each aspect of a task. Arranging and having 1 meeting for 90 mins cost $600+ while setting up the time and talking to a junior colleague, and taking out the file managed to come to a further $600+!
As mentioned, they are however knowledgeable and thorough, and did save me about $25,000 for a combined cost of something like $5000.
I would only use them if it was a complex matter where the stakes were high enough to make the costs acceptable.
pwl.com.au
