It is unreasonable to expect a law firm’s clients to enjoy paying legal fees as much as their lawyers enjoy receiving them. Yet in my experience, clients are much more likely not to object to paying legal fees if they can deduct them. After all, if you pay a deductible legal fee and are in a 40 percent (state and federal) tax bracket, you really are paying only 60 percent of the legal fees. The rest is paid by the government. This is so obvious it seems silly to say it.