Firm Overview

The Kreager Law Firm is six attorneys. The firm's clients include businesses, business owners, professional groups, professionals and wealthy families.

Specialties. The firm is a general business firm. The firm handles general business matters encountered by businesses, professional groups and professionals. In addition to business law, the firm also addresses the needs of the individual client in personal planning, such as wills, trusts, family limited partnerships, and marital property agreements.

Clients. The firm's clients are usually privately owned businesses engaged in all areas of commerce, including manufacturing, services and distribution. In the service areas, the firm's clients are physicians, lawyers, and engineers. Physician practice groups, accounting firms, and law firms are also clients.

The Clients' Team. We believe that we are part of the clients' overall team of advisors. This team includes the client's CPA, financial advisor, banker and insurance agents. We work within this team concept. We support the expertises that a client gets from the other members of the client's team.

Service Delivery. The key to any successful law firm is service delivery. We know our clients want these five things from us: (1) a superior product; (2) timely delivery; (3) continuity of service; (4) loyalty; and (5) honest, independent advice. Our firm strives to deliver services that solve our clients' problems on their time schedule. Successful services require a team approach among the lawyers and paraprofessionals of the law firm and a partnership with the client. Our clients are usually long-term clients. Our clients call us with the frequency that they need services; however, we maintain a professional relationship with the client for years.

Client Selection. We take clients selectively. The firm's schedule is usually full, but the firm does add clients when our projected workload permits. If we are to achieve the five listed objectives, we cannot take on clients who are merely looking for the cheapest cost. We price our services to be competitive, but the cost is also derived from our desire to perform legal services that achieve the five objectives.

Most of the firm's clients are referred to us by their CPA. We consider the client's CPA to be integral to the professional team of advisors. Many clients come to us for our particular expertise in the health care field, as we represent scores of individual physicians and physician practice groups.

Initially the client's request may be a defined project; however, we treat the relationship as one that will develop, mature and yield long-term business to us. We are not interested in high volume. For us to be able to deliver the best services, it is critically important that our clients understand to do so requires a long-term commitment.

Legal Services. Our clients call us when they need help. We call upon our clients when we think they should be aware of a new development or strategy helpful to their business or profession. Most of our business clients work with us on a regular basis. Our individual clients require less frequent interaction, but they desire a continuity of knowledge as to their personal matters.

Fees. We tend to charge less than what a "large, institutional firm" charges per hour. For business services we usually charge by the hour. These rates range from a low of $175 to $350 depending on the type of work and the lawyer providing the service. Frequently, we utilize paralegals whose rates are substantially less.

Some business matters can be quoted on a fixed fee basis. These matters usually involve business formation or contract review or contract drafting. Where possible we give a fixed fee quote for matters having a defined scope. Where the matter may have more variables influencing the length or complexity, such as the negotiation of the purchase or sale of a business, we try to give an estimate, but the fee itself must be based on the amount of time it involves to accomplish.

Many of our personal services for families and individuals are priced on a project basis. We typically charge a retainer for new clients. Established clients are billed monthly for any work that is done in the prior month.

Other Legal Needs. As a small firm focusing on businesses and their owners and on physicians and other professionals, we do not claim to be able to deliver all of a client's legal services. We will refer all matters involving litigation to attorneys and firms who practice in those specialties. Some matters may involve a special area of the law, such as patents, or a particular governmental agency, which will need to be referred to the appropriate professionals. Retirement plan matters are another example where a specialist other than our firm's lawyers needs to be retained.

Ethics. Our firm takes seriously our ethical obligations to our clients. We avoid conflicts of interests. In business matters, some clients may find it frustrating for us to comply with our duty to represent only one client. In forming a business with multiple owners or drafting business documents affecting more than one person, we may ask the persons involved to sign a joint representation letter. This letter will specify the circumstances where we may represent clients jointly. It is always our recommendation in those situations that the persons involved each obtain independent legal and accounting advice before signing any documents. A sample joint representation letter can be viewed by CLICKING HERE.