How much does a lawyer charge for a contract?

A lawyer typically charges a few hundred to over a thousand dollars for a simple contract, and custom drafting for a business commonly lands between $500 and $3,000 or more. Hourly rates run roughly $150 to $500 and up depending on market and specialty; flat fees are common for standard documents.

Review costs less than drafting. Having a lawyer read an agreement you already have often runs $200 to $500.

The economics matter more than the sticker. Custom drafting makes sense for one-of-a-kind deals. For repeatable paperwork, a service agreement you send forty times a year, attorney-vetted templates cover the structure and a lawyer is worth paying for the unusual cases.

For the repeatable work, a free contract generator produces a vetted document in about 90 seconds.