A great many people who need a lawyer never consult one, and the most common reason is not the price but the uncertainty about the price. A bill that might be three hundred francs or eight thousand is a risk, and a risk gets put off. That is a transparency problem long before it is a money problem.
The three ways of charging
In Switzerland a lawyer bills in essentially three ways, and the first useful question is which one applies to your case.
- By time spent, at an hourly rate given in advance. The most common, and the hardest to budget for without an estimate of hours.
- At a fixed price, for work with a clear edge to it: reviewing a contract, drafting an objection, a one-hour consultation.
- At a rate set by regulation or covered by a third party, notably in certain procedures or where legal expenses insurance steps in.
| Mode | What you know in advance | What stays open |
|---|---|---|
| By time spent | The hourly rate | The number of hours |
| At a fixed price | The total price of the work described | What happens if the scope changes |
| Regulated or covered by a third party | Who pays, and on what scale | The share, if any, that stays with you |
An hourly rate is not a price. The price is the rate times a number of hours nobody has yet estimated in front of you.
What it is reasonable to ask
Four questions change the conversation, and none of them is rude. What is your hourly rate. How many hours does this kind of file usually take you. What happens if it runs past that estimate. And what, in what I have just described, could push the cost up unpredictably.
A lawyer who practises in the area answers all four without hesitating, because they have seen the same situation fifty times. An evasive answer to the second question is itself information about how much of this kind of work the person in front of you has done.
How ora. handles it
On this platform a conversation with a lawyer starts with no commitment and no payment. It leads to a priced offer, setting out either a firm price or an hourly rate with an estimate, and nothing begins until you accept it. The funds are then held by the platform and reach the lawyer only once the work is done.
Two amounts always appear separately: the lawyer’s fees on one side, the ora. service fee on the other. That is not a presentational choice but a substantive rule, because a Swiss lawyer cannot share their fees with a non-lawyer. The rate of the service fee is set out in our terms of use.
None of this makes a file cheaper. It makes it predictable, which is the only part of the problem a platform can honestly solve.
These articles are general information and are not legal advice. Only a lawyer consulted on your own situation can advise you.
