Inflation, Cost of Living, and Payment of Legal Fees - Feeling the Pinch?

[Aureliuse]

With the high inflation, shrinkflation, and runaway gas prices, has anyone else begin to feel that clients are struggling to pay our bills?

I feel it acutely in my family law practice. Clients who always paid my bills in the past have sent me apologies and requests for payment plans.

I represent a lot of recently separated housewives/stay-at-home moms and single mothers. I find that they have been hit the hardest by the increases in the cost of living. They are often choosing whether to pursue support or put food on the table for the kids.

This is Family Law's Catch-22: Can't get food for the kids without a support order, can't get a support order without sacrificing food for the kids. 

On the front end, while requests for consultations have not decreased, I find that fewer intakes are willing to retain lawyers. A lot of consults thank me for my time and proposed plan-of-action, then straight-up tell me that they would love to retain me but cannot afford an initial retainer of $5,000.00 plus HST. 

Other files leave me with a moral dilemma - do I drag these people across the finish line (for example, a trial) or end the retainer for non-payment of legal fees?

Anyone else experiencing this in your practice?

[Cool_name]

Yes. 
 

Personally, I know I can feel the crunch, so I have also been feeling more empathy for the clients who are receiving my bills. There is no way I could afford my own services, which is a sad state of affairs. (Granted, I’m not going to charge less, so my tears are probably crocodile tears to some degree)