|
Location and Hours
Our main office is located in the heart of Delaware at 50 North Sandusky Street,
Delaware, Ohio 43015, one block south of the Delaware County
Courthouse.
For the convenience of our clients, we also maintain an office in
Worthington, Ohio. If you would prefer to meet in our
Worthington office, please let your attorney know. The office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and special arrangements are made
to accommodate a client's schedule.
Our office can be reached by phone at 740-363-1313, by fax at
740-363-1314 and by email at
mail@mmpdlaw.com. If you are calling from Franklin County,
you may reach us by phone at 614-436-8000.
Fees and Billing
When you retain our firm, you will have a clear understanding of the
nature and extent of the work we are to perform. Prior to
entering into a written fee agreement, we will discuss your legal
problem, the remedies available, and the work required to solve it. Our
lawyers continually strive to keep a client's legal fees at a
reasonable level while providing quality legal services. Our
fee arrangements and billing practices are designed to accommodate a
client's needs. Our attorneys keep clients informed of the
nature of the legal work, its progress, and it's cost.
A. Fees
Rates: Some services are provided on a flat fee, contingent fee, or value/performance fee basis, but generally,
our firm bills on an hourly rate basis, with charges in increments of 1/10 of an hour (.1, .2, etc.), with rounding
done to the next highest tenth of an hour. Our hourly rates are reviewed by the firm annually, and, if increased, our new hourly rates become effective January
1 of each year. If your matter is still pending at that time, and hourly rate increases are implemented by the
firm, the increase will appear on the bill you receive in February, which will reflect the fees for January's services.
Services: We charge for time spent in conferences, factual investigation, telephone calls, document preparation,
document review, research, case analysis, court appearances, travel time, and other services in connection with
your legal matter.
Services on your billing statement which are followed by the notation "n/c" reflect services provided
to you at no charge.
Expenses: Unlike many firms, we do not charge our clients for expenses such as word processing,
scanning, document management, faxes,
parking, mileage within Franklin and Delaware counties, and photocopying of less than 100 photocopies per month.
We do bill our actual cost of long distance telephone calls, computer assisted legal research, court filing
fees, and deposition and expert witness fees and costs. We also bill our clients the costs of extraordinary photocopying
(over 100 copies per month), certified, registered and overnight mail charges, and travel expenses outside of Franklin
and Delaware counties. We charge only our cost for these items and pass on to our clients any discounts or reduced
costs we generate due to bulk or group rates.
Expenses that are charged are itemized on each monthly billing statement. In some instances, we require prepayment
of expenses (e.g., expert witness fees, deposition costs, and air travel).
B. Billing
Monthly Statements: Our detailed monthly billing statements, containing a summary of the services provided and
an itemization of expenses, generally will be prepared and mailed on a monthly basis during the month following
the month in which services are rendered. Payment in full is due before the end of the month in which the statement
is issued.
Retainer: For some matters, our firm policy requires an advance payment known as a retainer to be applied toward
the fee. Retainers are deposited in a special account and paid to us three days after the billing statement is
mailed.
Balances: A service charge of 1% (12% annual rate) accrues on all balances that are 30 days past due.
Credit Cards: We accept Visa and MasterCard and you may pay your bill by Visa or MasterCard by calling
Mrs. Joan
Swarts at 740-363-1313, by stopping in the Delaware office, or via
email at joan@mmpdlaw.com.
Withdrawal: If for any reason you cannot pay your monthly billing statement in full, you must contact the attorney
working for you and make suitable payment arrangements in writing. If you fail to do so, we will not perform any
further services for you and will, if necessary, at your cost, terminate our representation and formally withdraw
as counsel in any court or public agency proceeding.
Questions: If at any time you have a question regarding your billing statement, please contact our Accounting
Manager, Mrs. Joan Swarts, at 740-363-1313, or email at
joan@mmpdlaw.com. If your questions are not answered by Mrs.
Swarts to your satisfaction, you must
contact us in writing. If we do not hear from you in writing within fifteen (15) days after our billing statement
is mailed to you, we will assume that you have no questions regarding the billing statement and that you agree
that the billing statement is accurate.
If at any time you are dissatisfied with the nature of the legal services provided to you, please do not hesitate
to contact our principal in charge of client relations, Stephen D.
Martin.
Communication with Clients
A. Telephone Calls
When you call to speak to an attorney or paralegal in our firm, they will make every available effort to speak
with you at that time. There will be instances when the attorney or paralegal you seek is unavailable;
please leave a voice mail message and he or she will make every effort to return your phone call as promptly as possible.
B. Correspondence, Documents and Pleadings
It is our practice that the client receive copies of all relevant correspondence, documents and pleadings. Materials
will be sent within a reasonable time after receipt of them by us or after our preparation of them. If at any
time you should have any questions regarding materials received by you, please do not hesitate to
contact the
attorney handling your matter. By providing you with copies of all documents, correspondence and materials, we
keep you fully abreast of the status of the legal matter we are handling for you. If you at any time wish to simply
meet with the attorney to discuss the status of your matter, please do not hesitate to do so.
C. Closing Files/Return of Documents/Storage of Files
Upon closing a file original documents will be returned to
you. We store our files for a specified period of time, after which they are shredded and destroyed.
Certain types files are maintained in perpetuity. As a
service to our clients we will retain certain types of original
instruments, such as wills, powers of attorney and trust
agreements in our fire resistant filing cabinets in our Delaware
office. When we retain an original instrument for safe
keeping, our clients are provided with a copy which is time
stamped to indicate the location of the original
instrument. Also, we maintain computer disc storage of certain sensitive documents for quick retrieval and
updating at the client's request.
|
