Why We Charge a Flat Fee for Case Evaluations

When prospective clients call our office about an employment law or business law matter, they sometimes ask why, in most cases, we charge a flat fee of $450 for an initial case evaluation. It is a fair question, and it deserves an honest answer. We believe this approach serves our clients better than the alternative, and here’s why.

Your Evaluation Is Real Legal Work

A case evaluation at Hoyer Law Group is not a sales pitch. It is a working session with an experienced attorney who will review the facts of your situation, assess the legal issues involved, and help you understand your options. Whether you are dealing with a workplace dispute, navigating an HR or management challenge, launching a new business, or trying to understand your rights under a contract, that evaluation takes preparation, attention, and, most importantly, time that our attorneys could otherwise devote to existing clients.

When you visit a doctor for a new medical concern, the doctor examines you, considers your symptoms, and gives you a professional assessment. You would not expect that appointment to be free simply because you might need treatment later. A case evaluation with a lawyer is no different. You are receiving the benefit of years of legal training and courtroom experience applied directly to your situation.

Free Consultations Create the Wrong Incentives

Many law firms offer free evaluations. At first glance, this sounds like a great deal. But when a firm gives away its attorneys’ time, something has to give. In our experience, free evaluations tend to be shorter, less thorough, and more focused on selling you on the firm than on actually helping you understand your legal situation.

Some firms use the free evaluation as a screening call rather than a genuine evaluation. They spend the time deciding whether your case is profitable enough to take on, not whether they can actually help you. Others withhold key information about their rates and fee structure until you are already emotionally invested in the conversation. By then, you may feel pressured to retain the firm, even if it is not the right fit.

We take a different approach. When you pay a flat fee for your evaluation, you can trust that your attorney is focused on one thing: giving you their honest, informed assessment of your situation and your options.

It Respects Your Time and Ours

Here is a reality that attorneys rarely discuss publicly: when a firm offers unlimited free evaluations, a significant number of those meetings are with people who have no intention of retaining a lawyer. The result is that attorneys spend hours each week in conversations that go nowhere, hours that could be spent preparing for and working with the clients who are counting on them.

A flat fee ensures that the people who schedule evaluations with our attorneys are serious about understanding their legal situation. It means our attorneys are not stretched thin by back-to-back evaluations that go nowhere. And it means that when you speak with us, you have our full and undivided attention, because we have yours.

What You Get for $450

Your evaluation begins before you ever speak with an attorney. As soon as you pay for your case evaluation, you are given access to our secure client portal, where you are put in touch with our attorney team. Through the portal, you can provide a detailed written narrative of your situation and upload any relevant documents for our attorneys to review. This allows our team to research the applicable law and issues ahead of time, so your evaluation is spent on analysis and strategy rather than just gathering basic facts.

During the evaluation itself, your attorney will:

• Listen carefully to the details of your employment or business matter
• Analyze the legal issues, risks, and opportunities that apply to your situation
• Explain the relevant federal and state laws in plain terms
• Outline the options available to you, including the realistic strengths and challenges of each path
• Answer your questions honestly, even when the answer is not what you want to hear

By the end of your evaluation, you will have a clear understanding of where you stand legally and what your next steps should be, whether or not those next steps involve hiring our firm. And if you do choose to retain Hoyer Law Group, your $450 evaluation fee is credited toward your representation, making the evaluation effectively free for clients who move forward with us.

Our Commitment to You

At Hoyer Law Group, we take a holistic approach with every client. That means we are not just looking at the narrow legal question in front of us. We consider the full picture of your situation, your goals, your concerns, and the practical realities that will shape your decisions. Our goal is not simply to gain your business. Our goal is to give you the information you need to make an informed decision about your legal situation. Some people walk away from an evaluation and decide to handle the matter on their own. Others realize they need an attorney and choose to retain us. Either way, you will have received genuine, personalized legal guidance from an attorney who took the time to understand your circumstances.

Whether you are an employee facing a workplace issue, a business owner navigating a dispute, or an entrepreneur getting a new venture off the ground, we invite you to schedule a case evaluation today. Contact us online or call (844) 531-0082.