Lawyer fees for starting LLC?

[William Godbe]

I just spoke with a local real estate lawyer (Washington State) about setting up an LLC for buying rental properties. I have yet to buy my first property, and I was advised to form an LLC before doing so to protect my assets. The lawyer I spoke to suggested I form a holding LLC, and one LLC per property to protect each property's assets from the other properties. However, he said his firm charges $2000 to form an LLC - this seems very high to me. Is it worth paying this much to ensure I'm protected? I imagine a lawyer would do a much better job of keeping a client from piercing the corporate veil than I would if I self-managed my LLCs, but I'm not sure if it's worth fees that high, or if other attorneys would charge less.