1. First contact is always without commitment.

Contacting a lawyer should not be a scary situation. We offer all our new clients the opportunity to contact us, for a free and non-committing conversation, which includes an assessment of your case, and whether or not it is worth pursuing. Such a preliminary assessment includes the first email inquiry or phone conversation up to 15 minutes. If the case is of a more complex nature and needs more time to be discussed, this will presuppose a case being established. In this case, there will be an assignment agreement, see #7 below.

2. You will receive objective advice.

Nobody likes to lose a case, and that includes of course the lawyer that represented the case.

The best way to avoid losing a case, is to thoroughly & objectively assess the case before it makes it to court. Even though it is impossible to be 100% sure of the outcome of a case, we do a reality check when we evaluate each case and the laws involved in it, so we can together with the client make the right decisions.

3. Hiring a lawyer is supposed to be beneficial.

A good lawyer is supposed to help prevent personal and financial strain. We can not guarantee you that our assistance will provide you with financial gain, however we can guarantee that we will always give our full effort to accomplish it.

4. You will receive expert help for the right price.

The law firm Arntsen offer legal services of high quality for competitive rates. Standard rates for individuals depends on what type of case it is and who is handling it.

Our standard hourly rates are as follows:

In cases with coverage from legal aid / free legal representation, the official fee rates applies which per January 2010 is 890 NOK per hour.

5. You should know the cost, beforehand.

Many law firms operates with a combination of high rates and vague innuendos about what it will cost you to retain legal help. The result can be a very expensive surprise for the client. Even if it is never possible to say exactly how much time a case will take, if it will be resolved after a meeting or if it ends up in court - we always focus on giving the client the most reasonable and realistic estimate possible. This process eliminates rate conflicts for both parties. When a case is completed, the final cost is determined in accordance with the Bar Association’s principles, which includes that the fees can be somewhat adjusted from the final result, and the value created for our clients through our expertise. The starting point for estimating the client fees, is always included in the time spent on the case. We keep a detailed time sheet for each client & case which is performed according to the case.

6. You may have the right to have your expenses covered.

Estate benefits such as house, car & boat, often has free legal service coverage as part of the insurance.

We investigate if there is such a coverage. Usually there is a deductible of 2000-4000 NOK plus 20% of the excess amount. This means that the significant part of the legal fees are covered by the insurance.

If the client is a private person with less than 230.000 NOK annual income, and a net value less than 100.000 NOK there might be basis for free legal aid. This means the client only pays a small deductible for the legal representation (from 860 NOK). As a routine, we always check to see if our clients have basis for such legal help. In all our cases, we automatically motion to have the other party cover our client’s legal fees. During cases where the client receives a settlement, this happens more often than not, and the same often happens when the decision is made in court.

7. You will receive a written contract.

All lawyers that are members of the legal association, are required to provide a written contract with their clients. The Consumer Council recently revealed that approx. only half of the lawyers provide these contracts to their clients. At legal firm Arntsen all clients receive written contracts with important and helpful information. This provides security for both parties and explains the case basics.

8. We are members of the legal association.

All our employees are members of the legal association. This means, among other things, that we are obligated to meet strict professional requirements and ethics, subjects enforced under the association’s disciplinary board.