How Much Does a Severance Lawyer Cost?
The short answer: an employment lawyer's flat fee to review a severance agreement commonly runs $450–$2,000. Published examples: Cramer Law (Chicago) charges $750 flat for a full review with a 36-hour turnaround; the Law Office of Angela Jae Chun (San Diego) publishes tiers at $995, $1,495, and $1,950 depending on time included; a Texas firm (O'Brien Law) prices a review at one hour of attorney time, around $450. Hourly advice-only rates generally run $200–$500.
The landscape at a glance
| Option | Typical cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Attorney flat-fee review | $450–$2,000 | A lawyer reads your agreement, explains it, flags claims and risks, advises sign / negotiate / walk away |
| Attorney hourly consult | $200–$500/hr | Advice on your facts; negotiation help priced separately, sometimes on contingency if claims are strong |
| Upload-and-wait analysis service | $19.99–$147 per report | You upload your agreement to a form; a written report comes back. Not a law firm — no attorney-client relationship |
| DIY with benchmarks (this site) | Free checker; $49 Kit | Benchmark bands, clause decoding, negotiation scripts, counter-offer letter, deadline planner. Information, not advice |
What the attorney's fee actually buys
One thing no website, kit, or report can do: evaluate whether you have legal claims worth more than the severance. A lawyer reviewing your exit looks at the facts around it — Were you the oldest on the team? On protected leave? A recent whistleblower? Promised something in writing? — and prices the release you're signing against what those claims might be worth. That judgment, plus negotiation carried by someone the company takes seriously, is the $750. If your facts are ordinary (a broad layoff, standard formula offer), the review mostly confirms what benchmarks already told you — which is why the honest answer depends on your situation, not on a slogan.
When the lawyer is worth it — hire one
- Large equity at stake. Unvested RSUs/options worth five or six figures, exercise windows, or a termination date set just before a cliff.
- Facts suggesting discrimination, retaliation, or whistleblower protection. Timing that follows a complaint, protected leave, or a disclosure is a legal question, not a negotiation tactic.
- Executive or founder contracts. Change-of-control terms, golden parachutes, and bespoke covenants are not form documents.
- A noncompete your next job depends on, in a state that enforces them — especially if litigation is plausible.
- A defective review window. If you're 40+ and were given far less than 21/45 days, the waiver itself is in question (see the 21-day rule).
When the DIY path makes sense
The mirror-image case: a package in the low-to-mid five figures or less, a group layoff with a standard formula, clean facts, and questions that are really "is this the going rate, what do these clauses mean, and what should I ask for?" A $750 review of an $8,000 offer consumes nearly 10% of it to answer benchmark questions — the going rate is 1–2 weeks per year of service for most roles (the rate table), clauses decode to plain English (the clause guide), and negotiation asks follow known patterns (what's negotiable). That's the gap the SeveranceVerdict checker and the $49 Kit exist to fill — and the kit's final section repeats this page's lawyer list, because if your facts are on it, we tell you to hire the attorney instead.
Three questions to ask any lawyer before paying
1) Is the fee a flat review, and what does it include — call time, written summary, negotiation? 2) What's your turnaround against my signing deadline? 3) If you spot potential claims, how would taking the case further be priced? A firm that answers all three plainly — as the published-fee firms above do — is pricing like a business, not a mystery.
Free and low-cost routes also exist: many firms offer a brief initial consultation at no charge for potential claims cases, state bar lawyer-referral services can match you with an employment attorney, and legal-aid organizations help lower-income workers. And whatever route you take, start from your number: the free checker tells you in a minute whether your offer is below market, at market, or strong — information worth having before you pay anyone, including a lawyer, to tell you the same thing.
Start with the free verdict
Fairness band, deadline, clause flags — instantly, in your browser, with nothing uploaded. If your situation is on the lawyer list above, the checker tells you that too.
Get My Free Verdict