We generally charge lower than the Top Ten law offices without making concessions on efficiency and quality. We have a turnaround time on legal opinions of 24 hours on simple queries and 72 hours on more complicated subjects requiring extensive research. We have a flexible billing system. For litigation cases whose duration is unpredictable so that the time involvement of every lawyer cannot be calculated with reasonable certainty, we charge an acceptance fee first, then bill by the hour. Acceptance fee for litigation cases starts at US$4,000.00. Hourly billing is US$75.00. For legal opinions and research not covered by a retainership agreement, we charge a flat rate of US$ 200.00 for each subject matter instead of an hourly billing. The coverage of the research includes one main subject matter and its related or incidental topics, exceptions and qualifications. Multiple questions on unrelated subject matters or ones bearing only tenuous connection or relation with one another shall be treated as different subject matters and charged separately. The Firm gives the client wide leeway on questions and is inclined to resolve all doubt in the treatment of related subject matters in favor of the client. For services covered by a retainership agreement, we change a monthly retainer’s fee of US$1,000.00. For special projects, such as incorporation, registration and licensing, we bill by the package subject to mutual agreement.   Retainership Agreement Gentlemen: We are pleased to submit to you herewith the following proposal for a legal retainership arrangement with your company. Retainer Fee. The proposed monthly retainer is U.S.$1,000.00, payable in the first week of each month, which amount is subject to adjustment upon mutual agreement, as work experience between us develops. Date of Effectivity. We propose that the retainer arrangement take effect upon payment of the first retainers fee of U.S.$1,000.00. It shall be subject to termination upon 60 days’ written notice given by either party to the other. Scope of Retainer Services and Hence NOT Subject to Additional Billing. The services which will be covered by the retainer arrangement, which will not be subject to additional billing, include the following: Consultations, advice, and the giving of opinion on all fields of law affecting your company’s business, such as general commercial law, corporation law, and labor law but excluding tax law. Supply of full text of laws, Supreme Court decisions, administrative rules and regulations, Presidential issuances, upon specific request; Regular corporate services, including the services of a Corporate Secretary;  Maintenance of a Stock and Transfer Book;  Labor relations; Conveyancing; Drafting and review of your company’s routine and ordinary agreements and other documents which are used in the ordinary course of your business, but excluding those requiring extensive negotiations or documentation Representations (other than proceedings) before and routine verifications with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Board of Investments, and other national and local government offices and agencies within the Metro Manila;  Notarial services. Services excluded from the monthly retainer fee and which are subject to special billings; all terms to be mutually agreed upon as a general rule prior to commencement of the work. Assistance in special projects of your company, such as transactions which require extensive negotiations and documentation, written opinions which require several days’ extraordinary research and studies, and administrative proceedings. Litigation work of all kinds; Intellectual property matters, including patents, trademarks and copyright;  Shipping/maritime problems; and  Tax and related problems. In determining special billings for any of the above services, the primary basis is our time involvement, plus a reasonable responsibility premium, taking into account such factors as the difficulty and importance of the work, the novelty of the legal issues involved, and other relevant factors. However, we will at all times take into consideration the retainer relationship in billing you for services falling outside the scope of the regular retainer arrangement. Thus, where the demand by your company of the services covered by the retainer agreement during any given period has not been extensive, credit will be extended to you in the form of a reduction of the amount which would otherwise be billed to you for the services described above. Out-of-Pocket Expenses. All out-of-pocket expenses (whether in connection with litigation or non-litigation matters) such as long distance telephone calls, fax, telex and cable charges, document reproduction charges, machine processing charges, hotel and transportation expenses incurred in court appearances or other work for your company’s filing fees, cost of stenographic notes, printing of briefs and the like, shall be for your account. In cases where such out-of-pocket expenses are anticipated, we would request that a deposit for such expenses be made. Conflict of Interest. The rules of legal ethics prevent us from accepting engagements involving the prosecution or defense of your interest adversary to those of another retainer of our firm, without the consent of such latter client, where we have previously represented such client in respect of the same set of facts or events. Sometimes the existence of an actual or potential conflict of interest may not be readily discernible at the time we accept a specific engagement from a retainer client. Accordingly, we are constrained to reserve the right to withdraw from such engagement should such conflict of interest develop or become apparent. Our experience is that sometimes, even outside specific conflicts of interest areas, a retainer client might regard its general interest as adversary to those of another client of our firm. In such situation, we would, as a general policy, address the feasibility of specific engagements on a case-to-case basis. In commercial and financial matters, our experience has been that, where the parties have previously or independently (i.e., without our involvement) arrived at an understanding on the basic economic terms of their relationship, such parties have often been willing to commission our firm as "transaction counsel". By transaction counsel, we mean counsel whose principal task is to craft the documents which will embody the terms, conditions and substance of the agreements reached by the parties. Clearly, this type of engagement also needs to be approached on a case-to case basis. The undersigned will be the overall Partner-In-charge of your account. You may at all times contact him directly regarding any matter enumerated above. We very much appreciate your considering our firm as retained counsel. If you find the above retainer proposal acceptable, please sign on the appropriate space below and return to us one signed copy hereof.                                                           Very truly yours, GARRIDO & ASSOCIATES By: WILFREDO M. GARRIDO, JR. Managing Partner   To download the Retainership agreement, click here.