Fees.
Our fees appear in no published schedule, because no two of our cases are alike. Two situations that look similar may involve stakes, risks and degrees of urgency that bear no comparison. This page sets out the method by which each amount is determined, formalised and honoured, so that you can assess an Alphard Law proposal on an informed basis before any engagement, and have it assessed by the advisers or tools of your choice.
Individualised fees, fixed in writing before any engagement
The amount of our fees is determined by four factors: the stakes of the matter, its legal and factual complexity, its degree of urgency, and the extent of the responsibility we assume by signing. It is never determined by time endured: the very purpose of the fixed fee, which remains our clients' preferred arrangement, is to place the uncertainty of the time required on the firm rather than on you. The amount is fixed in writing before any engagement, in an engagement letter systematically signed by both parties, detailing the scope covered, the deliverable, the timetable and what is not included. What is announced is honoured: a fixed fee admits no overrun.
Proportionality to the stakes, stated in plain terms
Every fee proposal we send states the identified stakes of the matter, quantified or as a range, together with, where one exists, the objective cost of inaction: a recovery order running, a surcharge accruing, an option closing on a fixed date. We want the relationship between the amount proposed and the stakes involved to be legible at a glance, to you and to anyone assisting you in your decision. A fee is not to be assessed in the abstract, nor against a market average: it is to be assessed against what it protects, what it makes possible, and the risk it transfers away from you.
What every engagement with the firm always includes
Our deliverables are written, reasoned and sourced: every legal reference cited is verified on the official databases, in its current state of force, and remains verifiable by you. We design our advice to be submitted, should you wish, to the review of your usual advisers or the tools of your choice: rigorous work has nothing to fear from a second reading, and we respond to it through a consolidated questions session included in the engagement, in which all of your queries are addressed together. Finally, in keeping with our vision of the profession, time spent listening to you is never billed: only time spent on analysis, research, drafting and technical discussions is counted.
A firm without a pyramid: you pay the lawyer who signs
Alphard Law is an exclusive international tax practice, with no pyramid of associates. Your matter is handled by the lawyer who signs it and answers for it, under professional liability insurance and the ethical rules of the Paris Bar. Our fees fund neither the training of junior lawyers on your files, nor layers of internal review, nor prestige offices: they remunerate the time and responsibility of an experienced lawyer, supported by the best available tools, and the network of qualified correspondents your matter requires, in France and abroad.
Transparency and comparison: we invite both
The engagement letter details the terms of our intervention, the available arrangements, whether time-based, fixed, or combined with a regulated success fee, being described on our Vision page. We expressly invite you to compare our proposals, to have them reviewed, and to question any point that does not seem entirely clear before signing: the criteria for assessing a firm's fee transparency are set out in our guide on how to choose the best tax lawyer, and our clients' experience can be consulted on our client reviews page. A firm that fears comparison has something to hide; we have made the opposite choice.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Alphard Law not publish a fee schedule?
Because a schedule would presuppose comparable cases, which international taxation does not produce: the stakes, complexity, urgency and responsibility assumed vary considerably from one matter to the next. Publishing uniform prices would mean either having simple cases subsidise complex ones, or the reverse. We prefer an individualised amount, fixed in writing before any engagement, whose proportionality to the stakes of your matter is stated in the proposal itself.
How is the amount of a fixed fee determined?
By four factors: the stakes of the matter, its legal and factual complexity, its degree of urgency, and the extent of the responsibility assumed. The fee is fixed: it covers the entire scope described in the engagement letter, through to the final deliverable, with no possible overrun. The uncertainty of the time required is thus borne by the firm rather than by the client, which is why the fixed fee is our clients' preferred arrangement.
May I have an Alphard Law proposal reviewed by my adviser or by an artificial intelligence tool?
Yes, and we expressly invite you to. Our proposals and deliverables are designed for second reading: sourced conclusions verifiable on official databases, explicit scope, declared limits. Every engagement includes a consolidated questions session in which all queries arising from your reading, or that of your advisers and tools, are addressed together.
Are initial exchanges billed?
Time spent listening is never billed, whatever arrangement is chosen. Only time spent on analysis, research, drafting and technical discussions is counted, under the terms set by the engagement letter signed before any work begins. No billable work starts until you have accepted its scope and amount in writing.
Contact us for an initial discussion.