How legal video work gets priced

Four ways this work gets priced

Ask ten legal videographers how they price a deposition and you will hear four different structures, not ten. Each one handles the same underlying problem, which is that a deposition has a scheduled start and an unpredictable end, and each one puts the risk of that unpredictability in a different place. What follows is a survey of the structures in use, with the arithmetic worked through so you can see where each one breaks.

The dollar figures below are illustrative round numbers chosen to make the math legible. They aren't survey data and they aren't a recommendation.

The flat day rate

One number covers the appearance, the recording, and the deliverable, no matter how long the day runs. A flat day of $1,200 on a job that finishes in three hours works out to $400 an hour, and the same $1,200 on a nine-hour day works out to about $133. The structure is simple to quote and simple for a firm to approve, and it puts every hour of overrun risk on you. It tends to suit practitioners with high volume and predictable case types, where the short days and the long days average out across a month.

The half-day and full-day split

This adds one breakpoint, usually at four hours. A half day at $750 and a full day at $1,200 means the fifth hour is worth $450, which is a large step for one hour of work and is exactly where the argument happens. Most practitioners who use this structure define the day from the noticed start time rather than from when the witness actually appears, because otherwise a witness who's ninety minutes late has quietly moved you into a different rate.

Straight hourly

An hourly rate of $175 with a four-hour minimum bills the three-hour day at $700 and the nine-hour day at $1,575. The risk moves onto the firm, which is why procurement groups will often push back on it, and why it appears more often in evidentiary and trial technology work than in deposition work. It also requires you to define the hour, because on-site time, recorded time, and total portal-to-portal time produce three different invoices from the same day.

Base plus overage, the hybrid

This is the structure we see most often on approved cards. A base fee of $950 covers the first four hours, and every hour after that bills at $150 in fifteen-minute increments. The three-hour day bills $950 and the nine-hour day bills $1,700, so the short day protects you and the long day protects the firm from an open meter. The increment matters more than practitioners expect, because billing in one-hour blocks turns a nine-minute overrun into a full hour and turns a routine invoice into a phone call.

The same job, four ways

Run one nine-hour deposition through all four structures and the spread is wider than most people assume. Flat day: $1,200. Half and full day: $1,200. Hourly at $175 with no cap: $1,575. Base plus overage: $1,700. Now run a three-hour deposition through the same four. Flat day: $1,200. Half day: $750. Hourly with a four-hour minimum: $700. Base plus overage: $950. Neither structure is better in the abstract, and which one earns more depends entirely on the mix of days your calendar actually produces.

What the line items usually cover

Beyond the appearance itself, the cards in circulation tend to itemize a similar set of things, priced separately because they consume different resources:

• Media units. Either per unit or included in the base, and the cards that say which one tend to have fewer invoice disputes than the cards that leave it implied.
• Synchronization. Usually per transcript page or per hour of testimony, and often the highest-margin line on the card.
• Rush delivery. A percentage uplift tied to a named turnaround window, which is more defensible than a flat rush fee with no stated deadline attached to it.
• Duplicates and additional formats. Per copy, and the number is usually small enough that some practitioners fold it into the base rather than track it.
• Travel. Either a mileage rate, a zone structure, or portal-to-portal time at a reduced rate. All three appear in the field.
• Archival. Sometimes a line item, more often absorbed, and covered in our 1-2-3 archival rule guide.
• Cancellation. Commonly a tiered structure, such as full fee inside 24 hours, a stated percentage inside 48, and no charge beyond that, plus any non-refundable travel already incurred.

Working backwards from a cost floor

The other way practitioners arrive at a number is from underneath it rather than from the market. The arithmetic is straightforward once the inputs are honest. Take annual fixed costs of $18,000, covering insurance, software subscriptions, storage, and equipment amortization, then assume 120 billable days in a year. That puts $150 of fixed cost on every day before you have driven anywhere. Add variable costs of roughly $40 per job in media and consumables, then add the hours you actually spend, which for a deposition is typically the on-site time plus two to three hours of post and delivery. A day that bills $950 against $190 of cost and eleven total hours of your time is earning about $69 an hour, and whether that's a good number depends on what else you could've been doing with the day.

Our Deposition Profitability Calculator runs this same arithmetic with your own inputs, including base fee, included hours, overtime rate, travel, media, and post time.

What moves the number

Three things account for most of the variation between one practitioner's card and another's. The pillar comes first, because deposition work is the highest-volume and most standardized engagement while evidentiary work carries more preparation and trial technology commands the highest day rate on the fewest days. Market comes second, and it varies more by metropolitan area than most national conversations acknowledge. Credential comes third, and it works differently from the other two, because it doesn't raise the number so much as it removes the reason a firm would discount it.

Where the credential fits

A rate card is a claim about the quality of a deliverable, and a firm that hasn't worked with you before has no way to evaluate that claim. CDVS puts a panel-reviewed production exam, an affirmed Code of Ethics, and a verifiable directory listing behind the number on the page. If you are still working out which structure fits your calendar, our Deposition Video 101 course covers the business side at orientation depth and it's free!