The order matters considerably more than the effort, and two of the steps take under a minute each. Almost all of the eventual cost is set before lunchtime.
Several different deadlines run at once in any disagreement, set by different people for different reasons, and the earliest one is usually the least advertised.
A multi-site clinic group discovered that a current state license guaranteed less than anyone assumed, and rebuilt its credential files around the four documents that actually control payment.
Legal work is priced three ways, and the structure you are quoted says what kind of problem the attorney believes you have. That is useful information by itself.
A big customer's contract is written to protect the big customer, which is normal. Most of it is negotiable, and knowing which parts to push on is the whole skill.