Structure Pricing & AFAs

Agree the price
before the
work starts.

Hourly billing is a blank check. PERSUIT structures commercial terms before work begins — AFAs, phased budgets, rate cards, and volume thresholds — so the price you agreed is the price you pay. Integrates with your existing billing and matter management workflows — no rip-and-replace required.

See it in action
Pricing Structure — M&A Matter
Persi active
Fixed Fee
Capped Fee
Blended Rate
Phase 1 — Due Diligence
$120,000
Set
Phase 2 — Negotiation & Drafting
$185,000
Set
Phase 3 — Closing
$75,000
Set
Total Fixed Fee
$380,000
◈
Fixed fee is 7% below benchmark for mid-market M&A at this complexity. Phase 2 budget aligns well with comparable matters. This structure is ready to flow into e-billing — no re-entry needed.
The Problem

Hourly billing
is a blank check.

—

AFAs agreed in emails. Then forgotten.

Value-based pricing falls apart during execution because the terms live in a thread, not a system. Scope changes. Billing drifts. Nobody catches it until the invoice arrives.

—

Budgets set once. Never revisited.

Static matter budgets set at inception without phasing or milestones. Scope changes but the budget doesn't. Finance gets a surprise at month end. Every month.

—

Pricing agreed in sourcing. Lost by billing.

Even when rates are negotiated properly, they don't flow into the billing system. Firms bill at a rate, e-billing checks against a different one, disputes follow. The commercial agreement and the billing system are never the same document.

The Real Problem

The commercial agreement and the billing system are never the same document.

  • AFAs agreed in emails, then no one checks compliance during execution. The fee structure drifts and the invoice arrives with a surprise.
  • Rate cards negotiated annually but stored in PDFs disconnected from the system that enforces them. Agreed rates quietly override per matter.
  • Budgets set once at inception with no phasing, no milestones, and no mechanism to track scope changes against cost.
  • Scope expands silently — additional work starts before the budget adjustment is approved, creating a fait accompli at invoice time.
  • Pricing terms from sourcing don't flow into e-billing. The rate you negotiated and the rate you pay are reconciled manually, if at all.
  • Volume discounts promised during panel reviews but never triggered because no system tracks cumulative spend against thresholds.

Legal teams negotiate well. The problem is that negotiated terms evaporate between agreement and invoice. PERSUIT makes the deal you agreed the deal that holds.

See How It Works
What It Does

Commercial terms
that actually hold.

01

AFA Structuring

Fixed fees, capped fees, blended rates, success fees — structured in PERSUIT before work starts. Terms documented in the system, not in an email thread. 79% of value on PERSUIT is awarded under an AFA.

◈ Persi recommends the right AFA structure for this matter type based on comparable outcomes
02

Phased & Milestone Budgets

Budgets broken into phases with defined milestones. Each phase has a trigger, a budget, and a completion condition. Scope changes are tracked against phases — not against a single opaque total.

◈ Persi drafts phase structure from matter intake and comparable matter data
Rate Card Management
03

Rate Cards & Volume Thresholds

Agreed rate cards locked in PERSUIT and enforced in e-billing automatically. Volume discounts trigger at defined thresholds. Rates negotiated in sourcing don't need to be re-entered anywhere.

◈ Persi flags when a proposed rate deviates from what was agreed in sourcing
04

Rate Review

Annual and mid-cycle rate review workflows built in. Firms submit proposed rates, you negotiate against benchmark data, changes are approved and flow live into billing enforcement — no manual updates.

◈ Persi benchmarks every rate submission and recommends accept, negotiate, or reject
Budget Tracker View
05

Commercial Term Enforcement

The terms you agree in pricing become the rules e-billing enforces. Rate overrides are visible. Scope expansion is tracked. Commercial discipline is the default, not something you have to police.

◈ Persi monitors term compliance in real time and alerts on deviation
06

Scope Change Governance

When scope expands — and it will — PERSUIT tracks it. Change requests documented, approved, and priced before the additional work starts. No more invoice surprises from work you didn't know was happening.

◈ Persi flags scope creep early and drafts the change request for approval
Commercial Terms Dashboard
What Makes PERSUIT Different

Traditional pricing sets a number.
PERSUIT enforces the agreement.

Traditional Pricing & Budgets
✗
AFAs agreed in emailFee structures documented in threads and attachments. No system enforces them during execution.
✗
Static, single-line budgetsOne number, no phases, no milestones. Scope changes but the budget stays frozen.
✗
Rate cards in PDFsDisconnected from enforcement. Agreed rates drift per matter with no visibility until annual review.
✗
Scope changes absorbed silentlyAdditional work starts before anyone approves the cost. The invoice is the first signal.
✗
Pricing disconnected from billingThe commercial agreement lives in one system. Billing enforcement lives in another. Reconciliation is manual.
PERSUIT Pricing & AFAs
✓
AFAs structured in the platformFixed fees, caps, blended rates, and success fees documented before work starts. 79% of PERSUIT value is under an AFA.
✓
Phased, milestone-based budgetsEach phase has a trigger, a budget, and a completion condition. Scope evolution tracked against phases, not a single opaque total.
✓
Rate cards locked and enforcedRates from sourcing flow into billing. Overrides are visible. Volume discounts trigger automatically.
✓
Scope change governanceChange requests documented, approved, and priced before work begins. No invoice surprises.
✓
One connected commercial recordTerms agreed in pricing become the rules e-billing enforces. One system. One truth.
79%
of total value awarded through PERSUIT is under an Alternative Fee Arrangement
31%
Average savings when a reverse auction is used alongside structured pricing
$22B+
In proposal data benchmarking every AFA structure and rate card on the platform
Common Questions

We've heard the resistance. Here's the reality.

Our firms won't agree to AFAs.
79% of value on PERSUIT is already under an AFA. Firms prefer fee certainty when the scope is well-defined. The resistance usually comes from vague scoping, not from the fee structure itself. PERSUIT solves scoping first.
Budgets always blow out — phasing won't change that.
Phasing doesn't prevent scope changes. It makes them visible. When each phase has a defined cost and trigger, an expansion is a decision — not a surprise. Teams using phased budgets on PERSUIT report dramatically fewer invoice disputes.
Rate cards are a fiction — every matter gets a custom rate.
Only if you let it. PERSUIT locks the agreed rate and flags every deviation in real time. If a custom rate is justified, it requires documented approval. The drift stops when oversight becomes automatic.
How do you enforce terms without creating friction with firms?
By making compliance easier, not harder. Firms submit through the platform, which checks compliance before the invoice reaches you. Errors caught at source. No rejection cycles. Firms prefer it because rework disappears.
Persi — Built into PERSUIT

Lock the price. Then enforce it.

Persi structures the right AFA for each matter type, validates every rate against benchmark data, and monitors commercial term compliance in real time — so the deal you agreed at the start is the deal that holds through to the final invoice.

See everything Persi does →
Smart agent. Wise counsel.
Persi
Persi — Working with you
The firm wants to move to hourly for this litigation matter. What should I do?
AFA recommendation ready Hourly will cost you. Comparable litigation matters on fixed-fee structures averaged 22% lower total cost. I've drafted a phased fixed-fee structure for this matter with three milestones. Want to send it to the firm as a counter-proposal?
◈ Part of PERSUIT
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