MacAdams Law Firm:
205 Gladwin Centre
2955 Gladwin Road
Abbotsford BC Canada
V2T 5T4

Phone: 604-850-1675
Toll Free: 1-877-269-1274
Fax: 604-850-1937
Email: mlf@macadamslaw.com
Web: www.macadamslaw.com

I highly recommend MacAdams Law Firm
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I was not lost in a sea of jibberjabber
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At MacAdams Law Firm we deliberately talk about legal expense bluntly and early on.


What are the fees for an initial consultation?

We charge for initial consultations. We ask clients to pay $800 by cash or Visa immediately before meeting with a lawyer from MacAdams Law Firm. An exception to this general requirement is cases of personal injury arising from motor vehicle collisions. Most lawyers offer free initial consultations for motor vehicle personal injury cases. For competitive reasons we do too.

The fee for our initial consultation is based on the time required. If meeting with Douglas MacAdams, the charge is $450/hour plus HST. If meeting with our associate, Marc Misner, the charge is $275/hour, again with the tax added. We find most initial meetings last an hour to two hours, and that fees and tax for the initial meeting generally are less than $800. If after the initial meeting no further services are required and fees and tax for the initial meeting were less than $800, we of course return any unused funds clients have paid.


What are the legal expenses if a client retains MacAdams Law Firm on an ongoing basis?

Legal expense consists of the following: fees, cost of internal disbursements (photocopies, postage, etc.), costs of external disbursements (fees to the courts, charges of process servers, court reporters), and tax.

MacAdams Law Firm generally determines fees after considering the factors set out in the Legal Profession Act and adopted by the courts. Those factors include the complexity, difficulty or the novelty of the issues involved, the skill, specialized knowledge and responsibility required of our lawyers, the character and standing in the profession of our lawyers, and the importance of the matter to you.

MacAdams Law Firm also considers how much professional time was required from our lawyers and from our certified paralegal to provide services to you. We pride ourselves on keeping accurate records of how much time we have spent on each file. We aspire to recover $450/hour for each hour allocated by Douglas MacAdams to files, $275/hour for each hour allocated by our associate Marc Misner, and $225/hour for each hour allocated by our certified paralegal, Deborah Werk.

Sometimes MacAdams Law Firm will do work for a fixed fee as agreed between the client and MacAdams Law Firm.


MacAdams Law Firm also does some work on a percentage or contingent fee basis. Most cases we do on a percentage basis are motor vehicle personal injury claims. We offer competitive percentages, and in motor vehicle personal injury claims, we are limited, as are all lawyers in British Columbia, to a maximum percentage of 33 1/3 %.


Retainers are payments in advance against anticipated legal expenses. MacAdams Law Firm generally asks clients to pay an initial advance of $5,000 which we put in our trust account and apply against legal expenses. When the initial retainer is close to being used up, we ask for a further retainer in whatever amount then seems appropriate. Generally this is $5,000, although sometimes the amount we ask for can be larger. Many clients find it convenient to set up lines of credit with their bankers to enable them to respond to these requests for advances.


We do our best to prepare in each case a retainer letter which sets out what MacAdams Law Firm will do and the basis on which MacAdams Law Firm will determine fees. Our objective is to review this letter carefully with each client. When the client has considered the letter fully and is in agreement, we ask the client to sign the letter. Then we get on with the job.


Each month we review all our open files. When the amount of time allocated to a file in recent months is such that a bill is appropriate, we prepare and send a bill. As a client of MacAdams Law Firm you can be assured that your file will be reviewed frequently, that your file will be billed as soon as is appropriate, and that you are unlikely to be caught by surprise by an unexpected bill.


MacAdams Law Firm encourages our clients to raise concerns about our bills early and vigorously. We want to resolve concerns quickly. There are of course procedures available in the courts for resolving disputes between clients and lawyers, but our preference is to deal with matters directly and early.

Litigation is expensive. MacAdams Law Firm does not pretend to provide cut rate or inexpensive services. What we do aspire to provide is services worth the money our clients spend with us. We are quite prepared to have the reputation as being expensive but worth it.