Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical element of high economic value, which is not radioactive. Chemically, the precious metals are less reactive than most elements, have high luster, are softer or more ductile, and have higher melting points than other metals. Historically, precious metals were important as currency is as investment and industrial commodities. Gold and silver are often as hedges against both inflation and economic downturn. The best- precious metals are the coinage metals gold and silver. While both have industrial uses, they are better for their uses in art, jewelry and coinage. Other precious metals include the platinum group metals: ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum, of which platinum are the most widely traded. The demand for precious metals is not only by their practical use, but also by their role as investments and a store of value. A metal is precious if it is rare. The discovery of new sources of ore or improvements in mining or refining processes may cause the value of a precious metal to diminish. The status of a "precious" metal can also be by high demand or market value. Precious metals in bulk form are as bullion, and trade on commodity markets. Bullion metals cast into ingots, or minted into coins. The defining attribute of bullion is that it is valued by its mass and purity rather than by a face value as money. Many nations mint bullion coins. Although nominally issued as legal tender, these coins' face value as currency is far below that of their value as bullion. For instance, Canada mints a gold bullion coin at a face value of $50 containing one troy ounce of gold. Bullion coins' minting by national governments gives them some numismatic value in addition to their bullion value, as well as certifying their purity. The level of purity varies from issue to issue. The level of 99.9% purity is common. The purest mass-produced bullion coins are in the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf series, which go up to 99.999% purity. Note that 100% pure bullion is not possible, as absolute purity in extracted and refined metals can only be asymptotical. Many bullion coins contain a stated quantity (such as one troy ounce) of the marginally impure alloy. In contrast, the Krugerrand is one of many historic and modern bullion coins of 22 Kt Crown gold, with a stated content (usually one troy ounce) of "fine gold"[clarification needed (define)], with the other component(s) of the alloy making the coin heavier than one ounce in total. Still more bullion coins state neither the purity nor the fine gold weight on the coin, but are recognized and consistent in their composition and many historically stated a denomination in currency (example: American Double Eagle). One of the largest bullion coins in the world is the 10,000-dollar Australian Gold Nugget coin minted in Australia, which consists of a full kilogram of 99.9% pure gold. There have been a small number of larger bullion coins, but they are impractical to handle and not produced in mass quantities. China has produced coins in very limited quantities (less than 20 pieces minted) that exceed 260 troy ounces (8 kg) of gold. Austria has minted a coin containing 31 kg of gold. As a stunt to publicize the 99.999% pure one-ounce Canadian Gold Maple Leaf series, in 2007 the Royal Canadian Mint made a 100 kg 99.999% gold coin, with a face value of $1 million, and now manufactures them to order, but at a substantial premium over the market value of the gold. Gold and silver are often as hedges against both inflation and economic downturn. Silver coins have become popular with collectors due to their relative affordability, and unlike most gold and platinum issues, which are valued based upon the markets, silver issues are more often valued as collectables, far higher than their actual bullion value.

Attorneys Fee

Attorney's fee is a chiefly United States term for compensation for legal services performed by an attorney lawyer or law firm for a client, in or out of court. It may be an hourly, flat-rate or contingent fee. Attorney fees are separate from fines, compensatory and punitive damages, and except in Nevada from court costs in a legal case. Surveys suggest that fees range from $150 to $1000 per hour when billed hourly. Under "the American rule" attorney fees are usually not paid by the losing party to the winning party in a case, except at the federal level or for specific statutory reasons.

The phrase is a legal term of art in American jurisprudence in which lawyers are collectively referred to as "attorneys", a wording practice not found in most other legal systems. Attorney's fees or attorneys' fees, depending upon number of attorneys involved, or simplified to attorney fees are the fees, including labor charges and costs, charged by lawyers or their firms for legal services provided by them to their clients. They do not include incidental, non-legal costs e.g. expedited shipping costs for legal documents. Generally Nevada being an exception, attorney fees are tabulated separately from court costs, and are also separate from fines, compensatory and punitive damages, and other monies in a legal case not enumerated as court costs.

The analogous concept has differing names and applicability in common law systems such as in most of the Commonwealth of Nations, and in civil law systems such as those of most of Europe and many former European colonies. For example, in a court case under English law, the fees of solicitors and barristers two types of lawyer are combined with court costs and various other expenses into a combined "costs", while non-court solicitor expenses may be separately billed as per-hour charges and those of barristers as daily brief fees. The losing party in a case in most common law systems pays for the costs including fees of both parties.

State laws or bar association regulations, many of which are based on Rule 1.5 of the American Bar Association's Rules of Professional Conduct, govern the terms under which lawyers can accept fees. Many complaints to ethics boards regarding attorneys revolve around excessive attorney's fees.

In some American jurisdictions, a lawyer for the plaintiff in a civil case can take a case on a contingent fee basis. A contingent fee is a percentage of the monetary judgment or settlement. The contingent fee may be split among several firms who have contractual arrangements amongst themselves for referrals or other assistance. Where a plaintiff loses, the attorney may not receive any money for his or her work. Many countries prohibit contingent fees as unethical. Most jurisdictions in the United States prohibit working for a contingent fee in family law or criminal cases.

In the United States, an up-front fee paid to a lawyer is called a retainer. Money within the retainer is often used to "buy" a certain amount of work. Some contracts provide that when the money from the retainer is gone, the fee is renegotiated. This is to be differentiated between a retainer in Commonwealth states, where a retainer is the contract that is initially signed by a client to engage a lawyer. Money may or may not be paid up front, but the lawyer is still "retained".

The range of fees charged by lawyers varies widely from one city to the next. Most large law firms in the United States bill between $200 and $1,000 per hour for their lawyers' time, though fees charged by smaller firms are much lower. The rate varies tremendously by location as well as the specific area of law practiced. Typically insurance defense firms have lower hourly rates than non-insurance firms, but are compensated by having steady, regular paying work provided. Locations like Salt Lake City will average $150 per hour for an associate's time on a basic case, but will increase for larger firms.

Many surveys of hourly rates are done. The American Intellectual Property Law Association "AIPLA" commissions a survey of its members every 2 years and it publishes these in what it calls a "Report of the Economic Survey". The latest one is dated June 2007. Rates are collected for 14 geographic areas and by associate or partner.  Many courts have followed the rates shown by these AIPLA surveys and they are highly-regarded for Intellectual Property litigation.

The State Bar of Oregon and the Colorado State Bar also have published a survey of rates for various areas of Oregon and Colorado and these are available online.

Perhaps the most widely followed set of rates are what is called the Laffey Matrix that is available from the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. These have been available since 1982 and are updated each year. The hourly rates are shown by years of experience. For June 1, 2006 to May 31, 2007 the rates are as follows: 20+ years of experience, $425 per hour; 11–19 years, $375; 8–10 years, $305; 4–7 years, $245; 1–3 years, $205; and Paralegals/law clerks $120. The Laffey Matrix appears to be growing in acceptance by many courts throughout the United States, but the matrix must be adjusted to account for higher or lower costs for legal services in other areas.

Hourly rates are increasing almost every year and some lawyers charge substantially higher than the rates shown by the Laffey Matrix. The first American attorney to regularly charge a four-digit hourly fee $1000 and higher was Benjamin Civiletti in late 2005.

With the ongoing recession of the 2000s, corporate clients began driving attorneys increasingly toward alternative fee arrangements, or AFAs. AFAs can include flat fees per matter, fixed fees for a "book" of matters, success bonuses, and other options beyond straight hourly billing.

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