Deliverables
Identify what the lawyer is expected to produce, review, negotiate or complete.
Matter scoping
How to scope legal work before pricing
A clearer scope makes the fee easier to estimate, explain and manage.
What a useful legal scope should contain
Workstreams
Break the matter into the main pieces of work rather than treating it as one undifferentiated task.
Assumptions
State the facts the estimate depends on, such as document volume, number of parties or expected negotiation rounds.
Exclusions
Clarify what is not included so the quoted fee is not mistaken for an unlimited mandate.
Dependencies
Identify information, approvals or third-party actions that can affect timing and effort.
Change triggers
Define the events that would justify revisiting the scope or pricing additional work.
Why scope matters for legal fees
A fee is only meaningful in relation to the work it is meant to cover. Two matters with the same headline description can require very different amounts of time depending on complexity, urgency, counterpart behavior and document volume.
Making those assumptions explicit helps a lawyer distinguish the base case from the situations that would expand the work. It also creates a clearer basis for fixed fees, staged pricing and conversations about out-of-scope work.
A simple pre-quote checklist
What does the client expect to receive?
What steps are required to get there?
Which variables could materially change the amount of work?
What information is still missing?
What should happen if the matter moves beyond the assumptions used for the quote?
Related resources
Scope first. Price second.
PreciselyMaybe is designed to make matter scope, effort and risk visible before a legal fee is assessed.