Why I'm Eliminating Hourly Billing
There’s a question I hear from business owners more than almost any other: “How much is this going to cost me?”
Not “what do you think about this contract?” Not “should I be worried about this clause?” Not “can you take a look at this before I sign it?”
The first question is about the bill. And that tells me something is broken.
The Problem with the Clock
Hourly billing creates a barrier between a business owner and their attorney. Every time you think about picking up the phone, you do the math first. Four hundred dollars an hour. A fifteen-minute call is a hundred dollars. Is this question worth a hundred dollars? Maybe I’ll just sign the contract and hope for the best.
That calculation happens thousands of times a day across businesses of every size. And it leads to exactly the outcome nobody wants: business owners making legal decisions without legal input, not because they don’t value the advice, but because the billing model punishes them for asking.
I’ve spent my career in transactional law, helping businesses navigate commercial contracts, technology licensing, and the legal questions that come with running and growing a company. And I’ve watched smart, capable business owners hesitate to call their attorney about a contract that could have been flagged in ten minutes, because they didn’t want to start the clock.
That hesitation costs more than the call ever would have.
What I'm Building Instead
I do not want Cruxterra to be a firm clients call only when something has already become a problem. I want to be involved earlier, when practical legal guidance can actually help.
That is why Cruxterra Law Group is moving toward a subscription model for commercial legal services. The concept is straightforward: a fixed monthly fee for ongoing access to outside counsel for your routine commercial and transactional legal questions. No hourly billing. No surprises. No mental math before you pick up the phone.
You have a vendor agreement that landed on your desk and something feels off. You call. A customer wants to change payment terms and you’re not sure what that means for your exposure. You email. Your business partner wants to bring in a new investor and you need to understand the issues before deciding whether to move forward. We talk.
That’s what a subscription with Cruxterra looks like. You have an attorney. You use your attorney. The bill doesn’t change.
What This Isn't
A subscription is not a promise that every legal matter falls within the monthly fee. There are categories of legal work that don’t fit a subscription model because they require dedicated, project-level attention or because they are outside the scope of Cruxterra Law Group’s practice. Examples include M&A transactions, complex negotiations, bespoke agreement drafting, and litigation. Those are scoped and priced as standalone flat-fee projects, and subscription clients receive preferred pricing on that work. For work that falls outside Cruxterra’s practice entirely, I help connect clients with trusted counsel who can assist.
The subscription covers the ongoing, day-to-day legal questions that every operating business encounters. The contract reviews. The quick calls. The “can you take a look at this before I sign?” moments that should be easy and frictionless, not wrapped in a billing calculation.
Why Now
I’ve set a goal for Cruxterra: by the end of 2026, I want to be entirely free of hourly billing. Every client engagement will be either a subscription relationship or a defined flat-fee project. No timesheets. No billing entries. No invoices that make a client wince.
This isn’t a marketing gimmick. It’s a structural change in how I practice law, built on a simple belief: if my clients hesitate to call me because of the bill, I’m not serving them as well as I should be.
If This Sounds Like What You've Been Looking For
I’m building this model now and working with an initial group of clients to refine it. If you’re a business owner who wants ongoing access to a transactional attorney without the unpredictability of hourly billing, I’d welcome the conversation.
You can reach me at troy@cruxterra.com or 425.830.9268.
Troy Nehring is the founder and principal attorney at Cruxterra Law Group, a transactional boutique based in the greater Puget Sound area. Cruxterra helps businesses with commercial contracts, SaaS and technology licensing, corporate governance, M&A, EB-5 investment transactions, and practical outside counsel support.
