I do this on the phone because it is easier to cut it off if it starts to get to detailed or specific or if I get the feeling that the client is picking my brain and then going to go somewhere else.

I’m now narrowing my practice to Estate Planning and Business Law, and for the estate stuff I do charge for the Initial Estate Planning meeting, but I credit the cost against the plan if they hire me. I require the potential client to fill out a detailed questionnaire, so if they take the time to do that, and they expect to pay for the initial meeting, it sets the right tone and expectations for the relationship.

The other advantage of charging for the initial consult is it helps weed out negative clients, i.e., people who will eventually stop paying and expect you to work for free. I can see why new lawyers might be tempted not to charge for an inital consult, but I think that would be a mistake.

I do agree with Chuck’s comment that if you are heavily marketing your practice to the consumer, you will probably need to offer at least something for free without obligation. The key is to make it as short and sweet as possible.

Susan is right that there is no right answer to this question, and it really depends where you are in your legal career.

First, I think it greatly depends on how you obtain clients. If you have a marketed or advertised practice, it will always be harder to collect such fees. You need to offer the potential client a benefit to even come in to your office. FREE tends to be the operative word. This is followed by NO OBLIGATION. When you market you are not likely to advertise that you charge for such things. It would be wrong to spring it on someone unsuspectingly at the initial consult itself. Therefore, you are not likely to do it.

In a referral based practice, however, a reasonable charge for the initial consult is not necessarily out of the question. The main issue is that you do not need to sell yourself to a potential client as much. The client comes referred. Also, the client is already aware of the likely outcome of the visit — to retain a lawyer for a particular service. This means the client is more comfortable with you and your office coming in, and the client knows it is coming in for the specific, applicable service. The pre-qualification of the client is about complete already. This is not so true in a marketed or advertised practice.

Second, the tighter the niche in which you practice will likely allow for such a charge. Broader practice areas, and especially broader consumer-based practice areas, simply do not lend themselves to such a fee. The niche itself helps pre-qualify the client. They are, for example, coming into your office due to tree problem they are having their neighbors. They are coming in because they are closing on a new airplane and they want to know the title is good for their large investment. The city is denying their food truck a permit. There Mom passed away, left a will, and they need to transfer title to property. That initial consult does not so much qualify the person, as it is extremely substantive.