The Office Civil & Commercial Penal Technologies Contact Us In this page you can find our employment terms, fees and methods of payment. Rates. Our fees, for any type of work provided, are as follows (the hourly rate method applies by default): 1) Typical hourly rates (includes all taxes): For international cases (e.g. international clients, cases involving international private law, cases that require or involve foreign jurisdictions or collaboration with foreign colleagues, as well as cases involving collaboration with our ILN partners), the hourly rates are as follows: Attorneys: 150 Euros/Hr Senior Partners: 250 Euros/Hr Team work (3 or more lawyers working on your case): 280 Euros/Hr The above rates are all-inclusive (international correspondence fees are included as well, but not the legal expenses - see below). The hourly rate basis is commonly used when you seek legal advice, need professional assistance in real estate matters, asking for a legal opinion, or need to work on a trial (litigation) issue. If no special agreement is signed, you commit that we apply the hourly rate method. If you require an appointment outside our Office, add 10% on the above rates (plus reasonable travel expenses for international cases or cases outside Athens region). For local clients only: Attorneys: 90 Euros/Hr Senior Partners: 140 Euros/Hr Team work (3 or more lawyers working on your case): 155 Euros/Hr Attorneys & Senior Partners rates include all local correspondence fees, 24/24 email support, document(s) handling and secretaries fees. For extra-urgent matters, work between the 5th and 22nd of August, or during bank holidays and Sundays, we might add up to 35% on the above rates. Discussing your case for the first time (a 30 min max appointment or the first email answers), is free of charge. The above rates do not include any other expenses that we might have to pay to third parties (court fees, bailiffs, notary publics, official translations etc.). These expenses have to be advanced by the client before we proceed. Once the work is accomplished and unless otherwise agreed, all invoices have to be paid immediately upon reception by the client. Please contact us for a detailed brochure concerning these matters. Below are some examples of billing methods. Example 1: Your case is a local case. We meet in our Office and you explain to us the situation. This first (max 30 min) approach is free of charge. If we can handle the case, we start billing by the hour straight afterwards. If you stay for 1 hour, you will be charged 90x1=90 euros. Example 2: We provide our services in May. One or two lawyers work on your case for 4 hours. They are assisted by our secretaries for 6 hours. We seek external advice from one of our experts for 1 hour. Your case is related to an international matter. You pay a total of 4 hours=150x4=600 euros. The amount has to be advanced before we deliver your legal work. Example 3: You seek urgent assistance on a complicated case involving a non-greek jurisdiction during August. A senior attorney has to handle the case who will work on it for at least 10 hours. All other lawyers and secretaries fees will automatically be included. You will have to pay 250x10=2500 euros plus a max of 35%=3375 euros. At least half of this amount must to be advanced up front 3375÷2=1687,5 euros. Example 4: You seek advice from abroad and want us to provide counsil, draft and deposit contracts and accomplish a business task for which approx 30 hours of legal work is required. You will have to advance 15 hoursx250=3750 euros plus any related expenses (state fees, bailiff fees, translations...). The total amount of hours needed will be deternined at the end upon reception of the final invoice. Note: The amount of work needed for each case is solely determined by us. We try to be as efficient as possible and we do not charge for anything not directly related to the case. Example: We worked for your case for 5 hours, but also spent 3 hours driving and 6 hours studying similar cases. You will still be charged for 5 hours. 2) If you wish to pay a per case fee (and thus not be charged by the hour), we need to come into an agreement before we start working on your case. Our Office provides a draft of this special power of attorney and/or retainer agreement that you can sign without having to travel to Greece. Please contact us for more details. 3) If you wish not to pay any legal fees in advance to us (not the expenses), we can also sign an agreement on a percentage basis. This method does not apply to every case and the percentages vary between 2% and 20%, according to the complexity of the case and the risks involved. Our Office provides a draft of this special power of attorney and/or retainer agreement that you can sign without having to travel to Greece. Please contact us for more details. For any of the above services we will provide an receipt (a hard copy) for your records, upon payment of our fees and expenses. The receipts are sent registered or by email along with detailed billing statements as often as required by the case. Our offers are valid for 20 days after mailing. In some more complicated cases, we might ask for a fee in order to study photocopies of your documents before being able to provide our opinion on the case. These documents remain in our Office's archives. By contacting us by any means, you agree to all of the terms stated in this page. The present terms are binding in their entirety for the final clients and their lawyers or representatives. In case of conflict of content, the English version of these terms is binding. This page is valid since Jan. 1st,2004. Payment methods and Legal fees: Our payment methods include cash, bank transfers, credit card payment and paypal. 1) Cash: You advance a down payment so that we start working on your case or we keep the corresponding amount from what we collect for you (subject to conditions). 2) Bank transfer: You can send us money through most banks. You will need to provide your bank with our IBAN code (International billing account number), and, from a non-european bank, our SWIFT/BIC. 3) Credit Card: We accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express cards. If you wish to pay by credit card from abroad, this can be done by calling or emailing us (our systems support digital signatures & email encryption), or simply doing it yourself through the secure server of our bank by clicking to the image below. You will be directed to the secure DeltaPay page, and you will receive an email as a proof for the transaction. 4) Paypal: If you have a Paypal account, send payments to fil@dim.gr. ©2004-2007 D&F Dimitriou & Associates Law Office.