WHETHER ITS A MONTHLY FLAT FEE RETAINER, PAY AS YOU GO, OR MEMBERSHIP RESOURCES AND DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT – PROTECT YOUR PRACTICE’S LEGAL HEALTH YOUR WAY.
Veterinary practices need pragmatic solutions to everyday legal concerns. Whether it is implementing best legal practices, strengthening legal compliance, utilizing the law to protect the practice from the rise in lawsuits and compliance, increasing earnings with proper form usage, buying or selling a practice, or creating a new practice culture–we do it all. Unfortunately, the traditional practice of law has deterred veterinarians from seeking legal services due to costs and lack of knowledge directly in the veterinary industry. To compound this problem many practices rely on non-attorney veterinary associations or insurance for legal protections which creates a false sense of preparation of looming lawsuits and increased compliance.
Are you aware of the most likely legal issues facing veterinarians and practices today? More than half of all small business lawsuits are against companies with annual revenues less than $1 Million. Current data calculates the median cost of a business lawsuit starts at $54,000 for a liability suit and $91,000 for a contractual dispute (not including the damage to company culture, reputation, or lost profits). Furthermore, workplace/employment lawsuits have increased 25% since 2006 alone. Most veterinary practices will share in this general increase in lawsuits. Furthermore courts are treating pets as more than personal property allowing attorneys to seek damages in far excess of the market value of a pet; states are expanding definitions of pet owners, harborers, and bailees for bite statutes; and governmental entities are increasing regulations on veterinarians (e.g. DEA and OSHA). It is imperative that veterinary practices find pragmatic solutions to prevent unnecessary legal risks.
Larger corporations meet legal needs by hiring salaried in-house attorneys to address legal risks of the business. Small businesses cannot afford nor do they need a full-time staffed lawyer. The result is that traditional attorneys want to charge small businesses hourly–we do things differently. We take our experienced small business attorneys and charge a small monthly flat fee to serve several small businesses in the same industry. Mahan Law’s number one industry is veterinary practices which are all served by the team of attorney and veterinary practice owner, Anthony A. Mahan.
Veterinary Retainer Plans
Veterinary Retainer Plans is our way to provide your practice value-added legal service from an experienced attorney and veterinary practice owner who has a deep understanding of how to balance legal considerations with business demands. Our veterinary retainer plans are designed to provide your practice a flat fee monthly legal retainer to cover almost all of your practice’s legal needs. No more hourly billing for phone calls, emails, contract review, legal drafting, consultation, collection letters, legal risk assessment profiling, access to our standardized forms, legal compliance assistance, free membership to the VeterinaryLawer.com member’s area, succession planning, and more! Each plan also provides your business reduced litigation fees should we need to go to court on your behalf, reduced collection rates, and reduced non-legal practice management and human resource consulting rates. Our goal is to provide all of your legal needs upon a flat monthly rate. Each retainer plan is individualized for your practice’s individual needs and cost as little as $350.00 per month. See our conference brochure here.
The Entrepreneur Plan (For Startups Only, Not Acquisitions)
New businesses often require upfront business formation, negotiation, legal consulting, human resource advice, contractual drafting and review, etc. but do not have the cash flow for upfront legal fees typically reaching 2-5% of the buildout and loan funding. As a result we developed the Entrepreneur Plan to spread the costs of the initial legal fees with a minimal upfront cost. The Entrepreneur Plan is a modified Gold Plan and includes general start-up costs associated with incorporating a new business such as business entity formation, obtaining all licenses and permits, negotiating and structuring leases, negotiating and coordinating contract labor and buildout, and much more. In most states, the Entrepreneur Plan is an upfront $2500 flat fee plus the costs of a Gold Plan.
The Gold Plan (For Existing Practices, Acquisitions, and/or Asset Purchases with any number of Employees)
Our most popular retainer package! Established practices or practices looking to extend our services from the initial Entrepreneur Plan can take advantage of the Gold Plan. The Gold Plan starts at $350.00 per month and includes unlimited phone calls and emails, 10 hours of research, drafting, or document preparation, 10 documents for review, revision, and negotiation, access to our database of forms, an initial legal risk assessment, quarterly check ups, attorney attendance at two board meetings per year, a 10% reduction from our standard litigation fees, discounted collection services, and much more. This service is a favorite for our clients seeking assistance with an Asset Purchase. Although Asset Purchase services are an hourly venture for our firm and most others, signing up for the Gold Plan can get you a 10% reduction from our hourly rate which could significantly offset the cost of the retainer plan. When we say the retainer plan is meant for everything you need we mean it–to date we have not billed a single veterinary client more than its monthly flat fee retainer no matter the amount of legal services required in any given month. Plan pricing is subject to several factors as set forth below (pricing may be adjusted based upon individual practice needs and managerial staffing):
Hospital size | Starting Monthly Retainer | Boarding and Grooming | Specialty Hospital | Highly Regulated State* |
0-15 Employees | $350 | +$50 | +$50 | +$150 |
16-29 Employees | $600 | +$75 | +$75 | +$150 |
30-49 Employees | $1,200 | +$100 | +$300 | +$300 |
50+ Employees | $2,500 | +$150 | +$500 | +$500 |
*DC, CA, WA, MA, ME, OR, RI, VT, CT, MN, NY.
The Premier Plan (For Existing Practices that want their Legal Team ‘On Call’)
Larger practices looking for true all-inclusive general counsel can opt for the Premier Plan. This package was designed with the established business in mind that knows its current legal needs, but is just not yet to the point of hiring full-time in-house counsel. The Premier Plan expands upon the Gold Plan and offers a 15% reduction from our standard litigation fees. Alternatively, we can customize your premier package with the idea that our attorney would serve an ongoing legal role in your business from the top down or as otherwise needed. This package can be specifically project based or customer specific for client transactions or even mergers and acquisitions.
Contact us today to develop a plan that meets your practice’s needs.
All legal services are provided by Mahan Law. Services outside of Ohio, Kentucky, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and California may be performed in association with local attorneys and/or law firms.