The Business of Fees: How Lawyers Should Price, Bill and Get Paid
Theme: Pricing Strategy, Client Value and Fee Recovery in Modern Legal Practice
One of the most practical and anticipated sessions at the Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference (NBA-AGC) 2026 is the Strategic Learning Programme (SLP) session titled “The Business of Fees: How Lawyers Should Price, Bill and Get Paid.”
As the legal profession continues to evolve, the ability to deliver quality legal services is no longer enough. Sustainable legal practice requires lawyers to understand the commercial realities of the profession, how to price services appropriately, communicate value to clients, structure fee arrangements, and recover professional fees efficiently while maintaining the highest ethical standards.
The session is designed to confront one of the most pressing but often overlooked challenges facing legal practitioners: the business of legal billing.
Across practice areas, many lawyers continue to struggle with underpricing, uncomfortable fee negotiations, delayed payments, fee disputes, and ineffective billing systems, all of which affect the profitability and sustainability of legal practice.
Participants will engage in practical discussions addressing critical questions, including:
- How should lawyers determine what to charge?
- Why do clients often resist paying legal fees?
- Which pricing models best suit different categories of legal work?
- How can lawyers prevent fee disputes before they arise?
- What billing and collection systems improve fee recovery?
- How can practitioners increase profitability without compromising professional ethics?
The session will also explore key issues shaping modern legal practice, including the distinction between cost and value, pricing models, scope management, communicating legal value to clients, and the common mistakes lawyers make when billing for their services.
Beyond identifying the challenges, the programme will provide participants with practical tools they can immediately implement through the Five-Step Billing Framework, which focuses on:
- Defining the scope of work.
- Assessing value and complexity.
- Selecting the appropriate pricing model.
- Communicating fees with confidence.
- Documenting engagements and collecting fees systematically.
The organisers describe the session as an essential guide for lawyers at every stage of practice, whether in litigation, corporate practice, consultancy, public service, or in-house legal departments.
It aims to equip participants with practical strategies that strengthen client relationships, improve financial sustainability, and enhance the overall business of law.
As the conference gathers legal professionals from across Nigeria and beyond, this SLP session promises to be one of the most impactful conversations for practitioners seeking to build profitable, ethical, and client-centred legal practices.
«”If lawyers do not understand the business of fees, they will struggle with the business of law.”»
