It seems like the ultimate threat, doesn’t it? What does it really mean (or is it just the stuff of soap operas and movies)?
When a person or a business “has a lawyer on retainer” it usually means they have a professional relationship with a particular attorney for consultation or projects. They may pay a monthly amount to the attorney, whether they use them or not, or more likely, they receive a monthly bill for the services they have received during the prior month. Even if the attorney is paid a monthly amount, the lawyer probably still charges for time by the hour and bills that against the monthly amount. If the amount of services is more than the monthly retainer, a bill is sent out for the balance.
When you hire an attorney for any purpose (divorce, personal injury claim, worker’s compensation, malpractice), you “have a lawyer on retainer.” You have retained the services of an attorney to represent your interests. Any time you hire a lawyer, the agreement that you have with him (or her) should be in writing. That written document is called a Retainer Agreement.
A good Retainer Agreement should include the following things:
- How the lawyer is to be paid for services rendered – by the hour, a flat fee, a contingency fee;
- What services the lawyer is promising to do for the money – write a letter, file a lawsuit, make a court appearance, defend you in court for a lawsuit or criminal charge;
- All the things that the lawyer is going to charge you money for in addition to legal services – photocopies, faxes, paralegal time, private investigators, expert witnesses;
- When the lawyer expects to be paid – at the end of the case, by the month in full, monthly payments until paid in full, a flat fee paid in full up front.
If you have questions, please comment and we can discuss items in more detail. For now, remember this – get it in writing – any lawyer worth his or her salt will be willing to put the agreement to provide legal services in writing for you, and sign it. It’s a contract (oops, contracts are for another day!).
i hired a lawyer for $3000 we have met twice with nothing getting accomplished so i dropped him ,got another attorney after 5 months. but the lawyer i dropped never had me sign a contract to retain him in the first place. how much of my $3000 should he return to me .
The best way to start is for you to write a letter to the attorney and request a full accounting of the money that you paid to him, i.e., ask for an itemized statement. I don’t know if you paid him a “flat fee” to do a particular task, or if you were expecting to be paying him by the hour. Without a retainer or other written statement of what the cost and terms of the service were supposed to be, the attorney should only charge you his hourly rate for the actual work that he did. Most attorneys charge in 10 or 15 minute increments for their time. He should refund whatever amount of the $3,000.00 he is unable to account for (with detailed descriptions of the work and how much time it took). If you are still unsatisfied with the outcome, then your next step would be to file a fee dispute with the attorney disciplinary agency in your state. Your contacts with the attorney should be in writing, and if there are any phone calls, keep a written record of the conversations (date, time and who you spoke with). Good luck!