Fixed fees for corporate clients: how we have worked for years

At Sabău Avocați, corporate clients know from the outset what the legal support they receive will cost. We have worked for years with fixed fees and monthly retainers rather than billable hours, and the difference shows up directly in the company budget: legal cost becomes a predictable line, not an end-of-month surprise.

What a fixed fee means in practice

The model is straightforward and we agree it in writing before any work starts. Depending on what the client needs, it takes one of the forms below.

• Monthly retainer. A fixed amount for day-to-day support: contracts, corporate resolutions, commercial correspondence, specific questions, attendance at negotiations. The client calls or writes without counting the minutes.
• Fixed project fee. A defined operation, from a due diligence exercise or a restructuring to an M&A transaction, carries a price agreed before the start.
• Fixed fee per stage in litigation. First instance, appeal and enforcement are budgeted separately, each with its own amount, so the client knows exactly what comes next.
• A written estimate for anything outside the scope. If a new request comes up, we discuss and approve it before the work is done, not after it has been invoiced.

Financial predictability is, in fact, a saving

A cost known in advance can be planned. The finance director can build it into the quarterly or annual budget without rough provisions, and the board sees one figure rather than a range.

The more important effect, however, is a different one: clients contact us when the problem appears, not once it has become a case file. When every phone call is billed, questions get postponed, and legal decisions taken late always cost more than decisions taken in time. A fixed fee removes that brake from the relationship.

It works for small, mid-sized and large companies

We have built packages for every size of business, on the same principle and with different scopes.

• Small companies and entrepreneurs. A modest retainer covers current needs: framework contracts, relationships with partners, employment matters, notices and debt recovery.
• Mid-sized companies. A retainer for day-to-day work, plus fixed fees on major projects, so that the annual legal budget stays stable even in years with heavy investment.
• Groups and large companies. A scope defined by workstream, periodic reporting and a fixed fee for each major mandate, including cross-border operations.

We work this way with companies throughout Romania and with groups that have operations across Europe, wherever their head office happens to be.

What clients tell us

The feedback is consistently positive, and the reasons repeat themselves. The first is that the legal budget no longer depends on how complicated the month turned out to be. The second, mentioned at least as often, is the freedom to call us whenever a question arises, without the mental arithmetic of the cost. The relationship becomes one of collaboration rather than metering.

How we set the amount

1. An assessment meeting, at no cost, in which we understand the business, the real volume of work and the risks specific to the sector.
2. A written definition of the scope: what the retainer or the project covers, and what stays outside it.
3. The fixed fee or monthly retainer proposal, with committed response times.
4. A periodic review, usually annual, if the company’s activity changes significantly.

Costs that are not ours stay outside the fee and are stated transparently: court stamp duties, expert or bailiff fees, sworn translations, registry publication charges.

How to start

If you would like to know what legal support for your company would cost over a year, the conversation takes less time than an ordinary meeting. You tell us what the company does and what it needs, and you receive a written proposal with a fixed amount before any work begins. Get in touch and we will prepare it.