Bob,

Any time a new client came to me I would insist that we meet, at no charge, to discuss the claim and the likely fees. After that, if the client wanted to go forward, we would sign a fee agreement, hourly, contingent, whatever applied.

I'm not sure where you get the idea that it is the fees that are at fault. What do you think would be a fair hourly rate?

When you think about lawyer's hourly rates keep in mind that the lawyer gets only a fraction of that to take home. Like every other business person, lawyers have expenses including very high malpractice insurance thanks to our friends in the insurance industry.