SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - AttorneyFee.com, a comparison engine for attorneys fees, announced earlier this month that Macey Bankruptcy Law has decided to publish its fees on the site.
Macey Bankruptcy Law is the largest bankruptcy law firm in America. According to AttorneyFee, the move by Macey demonstrates the consumer-friendly benefits of the site and contributes to the recent price-transparency movement.
Macey's decision means that the firm will publicly disclose all of its fees for the first time, which will make them available for comparison shopping with local competitors. The firm has more than 800 attorneys in 120 offices throughout the country and has aided consumers by discharging more than $1 billion of consumer debt.
"Experience in every other industry has shown that everyone benefits from increased transparency," said Jeffrey Aleman, the managing partner of Macey Bankruptcy Law. "Any law firm that claims to care about the consumer has an ethical obligation to get on board with this."
AttorneyFee is a free service that allows consumers to compare prices instantly from hundreds of local attorneys.
"We commend Macey Bankruptcy Law for becoming a leader in the price transparency movement," said Richard Komaiko, the co-founder of AttorneyFee.
"Few law firms of Macey's size or stature are willing to publish all of their prices online. This decision demonstrates that Macey Bankruptcy Law has a consumer first mentality, and genuinely sympathizes with the difficulties that people face when considering bankruptcy."
Richard Lawless, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, said that transparency is especially important when consumers consider bankruptcy. This is because consumers considering bankruptcy are in an extremely tenuous situation financially and they should not be taken advantage of.
"In our view, Macey Bankruptcy Law has set a new standard for transparency in the bankruptcy industry," Komaiko said. "We hope to see other firms follow their example and make their prices transparent as well."