Q. Can you better explain how the yearly fee for clients is apportioned within the Program?
A. Certainly. Out of the Yearly Fee, currently $2,495, the first 22% goes directly to the National Coordinating Counsel as his salary to run the FFLGuard Program. The remaining 78% goes to pay all attorneys, subject matter experts, professionals, and administrative staff of the Program on behalf of the Program, from an abstract “community chest” known internally as our “Rainy Day Fund.” The more comprehensive graphic of our Organizational Chart will help you visualize the 22/78 split.
Q. If I am a client, what does the 78% of my Yearly Fee pay for?
A. Without question, it affords you everything available in our Basic Services offering as a matter of course. And so long as you meet our 90 point requirement through compliance with our Law Plus Guidelines and our Additional Services, you will not have to pay for our help with an ATF compliance inspection, an ATF warning conference or revocation hearing, or the first 100 professional hours of service if you are sued by a plaintiff calling your business practices into question. If you don’t meet the 90 point threshold, that’s ok, too. We will ALWAYS represent our clients. We will just do so at 1/3 off our normal and customary rates — the very “normal and customary” rates that non-FFLGuard clients would pay for our services.
Q. Who decides if I’ve met my 90 point requirement?
A. While anyone associated with the Program will tally your points from the Law Plus Guidelines and Additional Services, it is the National Coordinating Counsel makes all final, non-appealable decisions after consultation with the Director, Field Operations Group. The “point plan” is not meant to be exclusionary, but quite the opposite. It is important that if 78% of your money may be helping pay for the legal services of another client, your money is going to someone who is worthy of it. That worthiness is measured in points. Remember, even if you don’t meet the points requirement, we will always represent FFLGuard clients who have paid the Yearly Fee, and do so at 1/3 less than our normal and customary rates.
Q. Do you accept everyone into the FFLGuard Program?
A. It depends on whether you are coming in HOT or COLD. If you are COLD, then you will be accepted without delay. If you are coming in HOT, then we need to assess your case, your operation, your ability to pay for our services, and your potential to meet Program requirements if we “save” your FFL. We also have a quota of total HOT cases we will take at any one time, which is 10% of our total client base.
If accepted, HOT clients must pay BOTH the non-refundable Yearly Fee ($2,495) , and a refundable/replenishable retainer for us to bill against at 1/3 off of our normal and customary (i.e., non-FFLGuard) rates. We do our best to provide you estimates of how much each phase of our representation costs.
Q. Have you ever “lost” a client or case?
A. That depends. Clients who came in cold? No, never. Clients who came in HOT? Yes. We offer no guarantees to clients who join us HOT, as they have already “made their own bed” and we try to control the damage as best as possible. Clients who come in cold, well… we’re “making their bed” for them, and stand by our proactive measures and end results.
Q. How much does going to a revocation hearing for ATF cost in legal fees and expenses if I come in HOT?
A. Again, that depends. If you are not an FFLGuard client and hire a non-FFLGuard lawyer, the total fees and costs could be anywhere between $10,000 and $100,000, depending on the lawyer’s experience… and the lawyer usually ends up call us for help, so you end up paying us anyway!
If you are an FFLGuard client who comes in HOT, and who we accept into the Program, then we significantly reduce our fees by 1/3 and divide the “dollars and cents” part into manageable phases:
- Yearly Fee- $2,495 (mandatory);
- Phase One, Client Review and Assessment with Tactical Going Forward Plan of Action- $10,000 (taken from an initial $10,000 retainer);
- Phase Two, Hearing Prep and Attendance- $2500/day (taken from a second $10,000 retainer, which is replenished as appropriate);
- Either:
- Phase 3(a), FFL Intact and No Further Proceedings Necessary- $2,500 on retainer to conduct Additional Services over the next 3 years while “COOLING OFF” – or –
- Phase 3(b), FFL Revoked and Further Court Proceedings Necessary- no cap estimatable, subsequent and/or recurring retainers of $10k will be necessary if you choose to proceed.
Q. How much does going to a revocation hearing for ATF cost in legal fees and expenses if I came in COLD?
A. So long as you meet our 90 point requirement from the Law Plus Guidelines and Additional Services… NOTHING. ZERO. ZIP. NADA. If you don’t have the points, then the fees would be subject to our courtesy 1/3 fee reduction for FFLGuard clients, but with the retainers set forth above necessary, as if you joined us HOT.
Q. What if I don’t have the money? Can FFLGuard help me?
A. As far as clients coming in HOT, we would make significant financial concessions at Phase 3(b) if the matter was one that would have a wide-reaching effect on the FFLGuard client base. Otherwise, your payment of fees in Phases 1 and 2 are proof to us that you are serious about your FFL and your business. We aren’t interested in those who aren’t interested in their own well-being!
Q. Okay I get the money part, what do I really get beyond a specialist if I am in trouble one day?
A. Well, aside from the access to us at courtesy rates, you get a series of Basic Services and the opportunity to engage us for Additional Services. As such:
- You get better business practices to follow that will make it virtually impossible for ATF to revoke your FFL using the willfulness standard. If you are illegally trafficking you are a criminal and out of luck, but implementation of our Law Plus Guidelines protect you from honest business mistakes that could cost you your license.
- You get immediate on-site assistance if ATF shows up to inspect from our Professional Services Branch that have a background in the regulations.
- You get immediate information on the latest changes and events through our eBlasts.
- You get the option to have us train you on-site or with other FFLGuard clients, or provide you with other services such as a mock ATF inspections, remote review of ATF Forms 4473 for accuracy and completeness, etc., to be thoroughly insulated from threat of license loss.
- You have attorneys and subject matter experts simply one phone call or e-mail away. This is all we do, we are not a general law practice. No question of yours will ever go unaddressed.
- Bottom line, we help you operate in compliance, keep your license and stay in business at all times in one of, if not THE, most regulated industry in America. Not much more to say than that!
Q. How do I know that by participating in FFLGuard, I’m not setting myself up to be scrutinized or undercut if I DON’T meet your Law Plus Guidelines “standard” (for lack of a better word)?
A. Good question. Because FFLGuard is a program run by a law firm (The Chiafullo Group, LLP), and not an organization to whom you pay dues, or a non-attorney independent contractor, you are actively engaging a lawyer to represent your interests when you participate in our Program. As such, your relationship with FFLGuard is covered by the attorney/client privilege.
While this attorney/client privilege does NOT give you a shield to just break the law, it does protect you from disclosing what advice your attorneys, or your attorney’s agents, give you on how to run your business. You don’t have to disclose to anyone anything that you and your FFLGuard lawyer or representative talk about, nor produce any information you exchange with FFLGuard, if you choose. Ever. Whether on the witness stand, under oath, whatever… so long as you’re not doing anything illegal, which of course you aren’t, you are protected under the umbrella of the attorney/client privilege. You pay for that privilege as part of your annual fee.