I’m Testing a Flat-Fee Offer for Employment Law Advice. Would You Use It?

The blog isn’t going anywhere, and it’s staying free. But I’m exploring a flat-fee option for companies and employers who read this blog: unlimited employment law advice, instead of billing by the hour for every quick question. Before I decide whether to build it, I want your input on what it should look like.

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TL;DR: This blog stays free, no change there. Separately, I’m exploring a flat-fee retainer concept for companies that read this blog: a fee scaled to your company for unlimited general employment law advice, no invoice for every fifteen-minute call. It wouldn’t replace how I bill every client. This is aimed at the employers and HR teams who follow The Employer Handbook, whether that’s a twenty-person shop or a Fortune 10 company. Before I decide whether and how to move forward, I want your input, fill out this two-minute form or email me.

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Why Hourly Billing Kills Good Employment Advice, for Some Clients

Here’s the pattern I see constantly. A company’s HR manager has a quick question, maybe about a termination, maybe about an accommodation request, and the honest answer takes ten minutes. If that company bills hourly, calling a lawyer means an engagement letter, a clock, and an invoice regardless of how small the question was.

So the question doesn’t get asked. It gets guessed at, or shelved, or handled by whoever seems confident in the room. Three months later, that ten-minute question is a charge of discrimination. A 2025 industry survey found that six in ten small businesses skip legal help over cost, and nearly one in five lost $5,000 or more as a result.

The Idea: One Fee, No Clock, Backed by More Than Just Me

A flat-fee retainer, offered to companies that already read this blog, covering unlimited access to general employment law questions: quick calls, policy reviews, a sanity check before you fire someone, wage and hour questions. The fee itself would scale to your company, not be identical for everyone.

Something readers may not know: I’m part of a full-service firm with more than 300 attorneys, including a deep employment bench across multiple jurisdictions. This retainer would draw on that bench, not just me.

This isn’t a general product I’m marketing to any employer off the street. My readership runs from small employers to Fortune 10 companies, and this probably makes more sense for some than others. It’s not individual advice for employees, doesn’t change how existing clients are billed, or replace litigation, agency charges, or investigations.

What’s Decided, What Isn’t

Before I open this up, here’s where things stand.

The fee would scale to your company, with a built-in check-in for fairness

A number that works for a 200-employee company might be laughable to a 20-employee company, so the fee would scale to your company’s size and complexity. After a few months, we’d check in together, not to penalize anyone, but to make sure both sides are getting value from it.

A clearly defined scope

“General advice” would mean quick-turn guidance on the everyday stuff: terminations, policy questions, wage and hour issues, accommodation requests. It wouldn’t mean drafting from scratch, litigation, or agency responses. If a question crossed that line, you’d hear that upfront, not find out buried in a bill.

Whether this replaces or supplements your outside counsel is your call

For a company that already has an outside firm, this could work as a fast lane for the smaller stuff. For a company that doesn’t, it could become the primary relationship instead. I’m not steering you toward either answer. Some companies I work with already prefer hourly billing, and this wouldn’t change that. Whether it pulls interest from those relationships or reaches new readers is something I’d want to understand before launch.

Tell Me If I’m Wrong

Retainer models work when trust already exists between the parties, and that’s exactly what a daily blog readership builds over time. If you read regularly, you’ve probably noticed I flag emerging issues before your outside counsel does. That head start doesn’t disappear just because there’s no invoice attached to it. Neither does the plain English advice.

I’m leaning toward moving forward with some version of this, but nothing’s locked in. What I don’t have is the shape: pricing, scope, how it would work. If you’d want to know what happens next, fill out this two-minute form, no obligation, and I’ll only reach out if this becomes real. Prefer to just weigh in? Email me instead.

Attorney Advertising. This content is for general informational purposes and describes a potential service, not a current offering or a guarantee that it will launch. Nothing in this post constitutes legal advice, and reading it or submitting the accompanying form does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results and general statements about experience do not guarantee any particular outcome.