Kephart Fisher LLC
Our Philosophy and History

How We Work: The Team Approach

We believe a team approach is the most efficient and cost-effective manner when working with clients due to the variations in length of time, complexity, and disciplines involved in each transaction. For this reason, we assign a team of professionals to every legal matter, including at least one attorney, one paralegal and various support staff.

Available, Approachable & Accessible. In today’s fast-paced business environment, it is imperative that questions be answered and issues get resolved in an expeditious manner. One of the advantages our clients experience when working with the Kephart Fisher team is the convenience of being able to obtain advice and counsel from the members of the team at any time. We are always available.

Rooted in Client Relationships. By targeting specific practice areas and cultivating deep client relationships, we are proud to have created a different, more successful, and more personally rewarding model for the practice of law that, more importantly, better serves our clients. We believe regular communication with each client and a thorough understanding of their business and objectives are keys to a good attorney-client relationship. We want our clients to feel comfortable contacting us at any time to get the peace of mind and assurance they need.

Our Compensation Philosophy:

Selling Solutions, Not Time®

Our approach to compensation for legal services is unique. Our goal is to find the best solution for our client’s situation in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. We don’t use a traditional hourly rate format when billing clients for legal services. We think assigning a flat hourly rate for all our services is inappropriate because some tasks require a higher level of training and expertise, while others are more routine or require less skill.

Value Billing = Better Client Services. We charge clients based on the complexity of the matter and not simply on the number of hours spent to achieve results. We never increase our fees when more than one attorney or team member is involved on a specific task, and we don’t charge for incidental work such as routine correspondence, emails and brief phone conversations. We expect to be compensated only for substantive legal services performed on behalf of our client.

Firm History:

Developing Our Work Philosophy

Kephart Fisher LLC traces its origins back to the fall of 1986, when Roger Kephart was a senior partner and David Fisher was a young associate at a major midwestern law firm. After becoming frustrated with the bureaucracy, billing systems, seniority-based compensation structure and overall philosophy of the large law firm model, they decided they wanted to change the way they practiced law.

Target specific practice areas and develop deep client relationships. They believed that by targeting specific practice areas and cultivating deep client relationships they could create a different, more successful, and more personally rewarding model for the practice of law.

Hitting a slight detour in the late 1980’s, they were temporarily lured back to one of the largest firms in the country at that time. This recurrence confirmed what they already believed, that their practice model and philosophy were incompatible with the principles, management structure, compensation model and client relationship structure of large law firms. As a result, Kephart and Fisher “demerged” in the early 1990’s and returned to the practice model they had originally created.

Even though Roger Kephart retired from the active practice of law in 2003 and moved to Bonita Springs, Florida, he still consults with the firm, as needed. David Fisher, along with the entire Kephart Fisher team, continue to adhere to this philosophy today.