Questions about working with the firm, answered

Where the scope is well defined, such as an estate plan, an LLC formation, an operating agreement or a standard commercial lease review, the firm quotes a flat fee in writing before any work begins. Contested disputes and complex negotiations, where the other side’s actions decide how much time is needed, are billed hourly against a trust retainer and itemised every month. Court costs and state filing fees are paid to the court or the state and are listed separately.

Yes. The $250 strategy consultation fee is credited in full against any flat-fee estate or transactional package retained within 14 days of the consultation. If you decide not to go further, you still leave the hour with a clear analysis of your options and the deadlines that apply.

Most individuals and couples complete their plan within three to four weeks of the planning meeting. Drafts arrive with plain-English summaries within ten business days, the details are refined together, and the documents are signed before witnesses and a notary at the firm’s office.

Most civil and commercial disputes are resolved through pre-suit negotiation or mediation rather than a full trial, though no attorney at the firm will predict how a particular matter ends. Settlement tends to follow when the other side can see disciplined, trial-ready preparation, so every contested file is prepared that way from the start.

No. No attorney-client relationship is formed by this website, by sending the contact form or by an email reply to it, and clearing conflicts or agreeing a meeting time does not create one either. Representation begins only when the conflict check is clear and both you and the firm have signed an engagement letter. Nothing on this website is legal advice about a particular matter, and a meeting exists only once a time is agreed in writing.

Ohio’s professional conduct rules bar a firm from advising or representing you where that conflicts with a current or former client in the same matter. Checking the name of every person and company involved first protects your confidentiality, and the firm’s duties to existing clients, before any strategy is discussed. If the check finds an existing client on the other side, the firm declines the matter in its first reply.

A short timeline of the key dates, with copies of any signed contracts, leases, demand letters, court notices, deeds or earlier wills that bear on the question. Once the conflict check is clear, send copies at least a day before the meeting through the secure process the firm describes in its reply, never through an ordinary website message, so the attorney can read the critical clauses before your hour begins.

Yes. Strategy consultations, contract redline walkthroughs and general counsel meetings can be held at the Cincinnati office or by encrypted video. Only documents that need wet-ink witnessing or notarisation, such as wills and some real estate deeds, require an in-person signing.