Fixed fees reaping rewards for smaller firms By Jerome Doraisamy|27 April 2021 SME law firms are witnessing an increase in requests for fixed fees, as well as greater profitability – and the future looks bright for charging in such a fashion, too. Australian cloud-based legal practice management software Smokeball has just released its State of Small Law Australia Survey results, for which it interviewed 134 small law firms across Australia in February of this year. The results, the provider noted, show that there is a substantial increase in clients asking for their matters to be done by way of fixed fees, and that the outcomes for law firms are more profitable. This movement towards fixed pricing isn’t necessarily segmented to particular practice areas and niche boutiques, either – respondents are seeing fixed fees in practice areas across the board, from family law to litigation, conveyancing to wills and estate planning.