Budgeting 101

How to Use AltFee's Budgeting Feature

Budgeting 101: How to Use AltFee's Budgeting Feature

AltFee's Budgeting feature helps firms estimate the cost and profitability of legal work before it begins.

By assigning team members and estimating the time each person is expected to spend on a matter, firms can better understand whether a proposed fee aligns with the anticipated effort required to deliver the work.

Budgeting supports more informed pricing decisions—not perfect predictions.

Step 1: Build Your Budget

For each project, simply:

Select the team members who will work on the matter

Estimate the number of hours each person is expected to contribute

AltFee automatically combines each team member's hourly rate, cost rate, and estimated hours to estimate the financial impact of the project.

Step 2: Review Your Project Economics

As you build your budget, AltFee estimates:

Projected labour cost

Projected profit ($)

Projected profit margin (%)

These metrics help determine whether a proposed fee is likely to support a profitable engagement before work begins.

Step 3: Compare Different Approaches

One of the biggest advantages of budgeting is the ability to compare different staffing models before the work starts.

For example:

What happens if more work is delegated to an associate?

What if a paralegal completes the initial draft?

How does partner involvement affect profitability?

Small staffing changes can have a meaningful impact on projected margins.

Step 4: Learn and Improve

Budgets are estimates designed to support better decision-making.