FEE POLICY

The following are some of the most common arrangements which Albei & Albei Law Offices utilizes:

A. THE FLAT FEE:

A common flat fee arrangement is one whereby the full fee for a specified legal service is set at a specific euro amount. Flat fees are charged for a standard service such as:

- incorporation of a small business: 300 - 700 euros;

- bankruptcy: 1000 - 2000 euros;

- drafting contracts or other documents: 200 - 1000 euros;

Note: The fee does not include filing fees, judiciary taxes and other expenses associated with court costs. We also mention that photocopying, typing, and other out-of-pocket expenses are covered by this flat fee. Usually, our Law Office offers this type of fee only if your case is relatively simple or routine.

B. THE CONTINGENCY FEE:

The contingency fee arrangement is one whereby the attorney's compensation is based on a combination between an initial fix retainer and negotiable percentage of any obtained recovery. However, often, in contingency fee agreements, there is a different fixed percentage applicable to each stage at which there might be a recovery. The usual set up is for a lower percentage during an early stage of obtained recovery (such as a recovery made before a lawsuit is filed), and higher percentage at a late stage (such as when a court verdict has been made).

LEGAL TAXES & FEES IN COURT PROCEEDINGS

(brief presentation)

If the debtor does not react to our dunning letter (reminder) nor telephone calls and all measures taken to force the debtor to payment turned out with no result, court proceedings become necessary.

It is to point out that in case that it is necessary to initiate legal actions at the court by submitting a written pleading the court requires for an advance payment for the court judiciary taxes and the stamp taxes. Otherwise the court will reject each action. The court taxes are related to a legal table. This scale of taxes is binding by law (The Law no. 146/1997 on Judiciary taxes).

Romanian law firms are subject to the Romanian Law regarding lawyers fees (The Law no. 51/1995, republished, on the profession of attorney, The Status of the Romanian Lawyer from 2001 and The Deontological Code of the Lawyers activating in the E.U. from 1998).

Success fees (contingency fees) are legal in Romania, but only if this type of fee is perceived in association with an initial fixed retainer. The "Quota litis" pact is forbidden in Romania, no lawyer may agree with his client to perceive a portion of the sum obtained from the dispute. But the law permitts us, the Romanian lawyers, to ask clients a "money deposit" before handling with their matter, should the client fails to pay the advanced payments, our law firm may reject from giving him legal help.

The amount of the court judiciary tax and the stamp tax depends on the sum in dispute (amount of your claim). For instance the court judiciary tax and the stamp tax for a claim of 600.000,00 EUR are amounting to approx. 6.940,00 EUR and for 1.000.000,00 EUR up to approx. 10.940,00 EUR.

Very important: To initiate court proceedings the plaintiff has to pay the Court Judiciary Tax and the Stamp Tax in advance, at the beginning of the law-suit. The following schedule shows the total taxes for the court.

In court proceedings, Lawyer's/Attorney's fees are amounting as follows: for initiating and performing court proceedings our law firm's attorneys are entitled to charge the initial fixed retainer related to the legal table like performed in the schedule mentioned below and a negotiable quota which may vary between 5% and 10% of any recovery obtained.

Important ! According to the Article 274 (1) of the Romanian Civil Procedure Code all judiciary and stamp taxes, attorneys' fees, technical experts' fees and any other expenses are in charge of the party that lost the lawsuit ! It means that if you win the lawsuit all the expenses that you have made will be retrived from the opposite party.

Here you find the legal table for court taxes and lawyer's fees:

Please note that the fixed retainer has to be paid in advance of representation. If you fail to pay the retainer our law firm may reject from giving you legal help.

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Attention. We have to mention the fact that the legal judiciary taxes and the lawyers' fees are only available in front of the First Instance Court (Tribunal - in Romanian, it has jurisdiction for sums in dispute over 28.600 euros in commercial cases). Thus, according to the Romanian Civil Procedure Code the party that lost the lawsuit can made an appeal (apel - in Romanian) within a 15 days' term as from the day the Court decision has been notyfied at the Romanian Court of Appeal (Curtea de Apel - in Romanian). In case of a second unsatisfied decision a (last) appeal can be made to the Supreme Court of Justice by the entitled party.

As a rule the Romanian court system is organized with three degrees of jurisdiction: 1. The first degree hears the case when it is first brought up (prima instanta - in Romanian); 2. The second degree (appeal) hears appeals (apel - in Romanian) against the decision of the first degree; The third degree (last appeal) hears appeals (recurs - in Romanian) against the interpretation of the law by inferior courts.

N.B. Obtaining a final and then an irrevocable decision does not mean automatically that the debtor will pay his debt. Usually obtaining judgment is the easy part. Some debtors will pay, however others will wait until enforcement proceedings are commenced.

Please note that we are able to represent your interests all over Romania and abroad. Our Lawyers are called to the bar at every court in Romania.

In order to start the legal procedure against a bad-faith debtor, our lawyers regularly need the following documents and information (in the early phase):

all contact details of the debtor and your company (legal form, full name of the legal representative), your Certificate of Registration (copy);
contract(s), all invoices, whereas copies are sufficient;
reminder, demand letter a.s.o.;
order, confirmation of order (where applicable), delivery notes;
receivables account, statement of account (where applicable).

It is firstly sufficient to send us the contract(s), the invoice(s) and the contact information of the debtor and your company.

C. THE SUBSCRIPTION FEE.

Subscription fees are computed by a monthly subscription with included legal services. This type of fee presupposes a long term contract. The Client pays a fixed charge for a range of established legal services, or, for a number of hours included in the subscription to which supplementary work hour charges may be added. This type of collaboration posseses advantages for Clients who are interested in permanent legal consultancy.

Our law firm levies a negotiable subscription fee between 250 and 2000 euros, depending on the complexity of the case(s)/ problems which have to be solved.

D. THE HOURLY FEE.

N.B. Our law firm does not agree with this type of billing clients any more ! In litigation, we believe that charging by the hour encourages inefficiency, legitimizes a take-no-prisoners approach, delays case resolution, promotes obnoxious litigators instead of charming trial lawyers, and doesn't even reflect the value of the services. Plus it creates a conflict of interest between lawyer and client.

In this respect, since November 2006 our law office has withdrawn this unpopular offer from his services !

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Finally, we mention that regardless of the fee structure we may agree upon, the specifics of the agreement should be in writing. In this respect, a typyfied contract must be concluded and a Power of Attorney has to be signed.