An hourly fee may cost less in the long run, but you may find that you feel like you are always "on the clock." You will also discover that as negotiations drag out, the cost of the deal (i.e. the amount you pay your lawyer) will be going up and up. Conversely, if you are paying them a percentage you won’t have to be as concerned about how much time you’re taking. However, if you are lucky enough to get offered large deals, you will likely end up paying more for the deal than if you were paying hourly or flat rates. With the flat rate, you know before you start how much the negotiation will cost, regardless of how much time it takes. In any of these cases, if you are cash poor, lawyers may defer their fee payments until you have closed your deal. This is a major accommodation that many attorneys make for developing acts. Unfortunately, it is happening less and less because in many cases when music attorneys extend artists' credit, they never get paid or have to hound the artist for their money due. If you are lucky enough to work with an attorney who extends you credit in a time when you can't afford to pay, you should make sure they get paid as soon as you receive your money.
Do You Need A Manager If You Have A Lawyer?
There is an ongoing debate about whether a music lawyer can be a surrogate manager during the developmental years leading up to a record deal. Let us start this discussion by pointing out that good artist managers fulfill a unique and different role than attorneys do; review the section on management for more details. Nevertheless, the case can be made that by not bringing on a manager until after a record deal is completed, the artist saves on the 15-20% commission of the advance of that deal that might otherwise be owed to the manager (you may want to review our section on management contracts for a better understanding of management commissions). While this is true, the downside may not be worth the 15-20% savings. Here are a few things to consider:

1. Most managers coming into a situation where a record deal is already complete are still going to look for some compensation from the monetary advance that the act has received.