I am very skeptical about attorneys who have close relationships with doctors. Some of these relationships are very obvious and others are more subtle and harder to pick up on. The most obvious connection is when you see an advertisement for a personal injury lawyer on television and they seem to be saying that the very first thing you should do after being injured in an accident is to call their office. Really? Call a lawyer before you go to the doctor? But they seem to be saying (and they really are saying) that if you call them first, they will “set you up” with medical care.

Here is the problem — the biggest factor in calculating what a personal injury case is “worth” (monetary damages) is the amount of the medical bills. If the relationship between a lawyer and a doctor (M.D. or chiropractor) is too “close,” it may become more important to both of them that you (the client/patient) run up lots of medical bills than whether you make a speedy recovery. I recall a potential client coming into the office for an initial interview with the lawyer after being injured in a car accident. The person asked the lawyer, “How long should I go to the doctor or the chiropractor or physical therapy?” The right answer to this question is “Until you are better.” Your medical care for injuries from an accident should not be a money-making venture for anyone – not for your lawyer, your medical care provider, or for you.

We have discussed before (Contingency Fees – What You Need to Know) how your medical bills get paid in a personal injury case. You may be better off using your own medical insurance than just using the doctor that your lawyer recommends, who will “wait for his money  until the end of the case.”  If you feel like your lawyer is pushing you to use a particular doctor, be suspicious. The problem can be, unfortunately, that both the lawyer and the doctor are getting to you when you are vulnerable (injured, stressed, out of work, etc.). If you have a doctor you like and trust, just say you want to go to your own doctor.

There are all kinds of opportunities out there for lawyers and doctors to establish “arrangements” that are financially beneficial to both. In my opinion, professional ethics (medical and legal) demand that those opportunities be resisted. However, greed can rob anyone of their “moral compass.”

The moral of the story? If your lawyer has a doctor, then maybe you need another lawyer. Don’t check your common sense at the door.

While it may seem like unethical behavior to you, it is possible that the problem you are having with your lawyer is better described as a fee dispute. It could be argued that everyone is in a fee dispute with their lawyer because they charge so much money! All money jokes about lawyers aside, fee disputes are different from ethics complaints, although they may be made to the same agency or bar association.

What are some of the reasons that you may have a fee dispute? The most common one is that you have paid your lawyer up front and, in the end, you don’t feel that the attorney “earned” all the money you paid, particularly if you are paying an attorney by the hour. Attorneys usually ask for a portion of their fees at the time you hire them. You need to be sure that you understand how this initial “retainer” is to be handled by the attorney. The retainer agreement should state if the initial deposit of money is “refundable” or “non-refundable.” Usually, lawyers bill against the initial retainer. For example, the lawyer charges $300 per hour for their services; you pay an initial retainer of $3,000.00; they work “against the retainer,” keeping track of all of their time and any billable expenses, until they use up the $3,000.00. Then you have to deposit more money on your account. See “I Have A Lawyer On Retainer” for more discussion about retainer agreements.

The bottom line is this — if you think you have been overcharged for the services provided (or not provided, as the case may be), you should first try to resolve the dispute with your attorney. I recommend doing these things in writing, especially if you are unable to resolve it with a simple conversation. If you do try to solve the problem in a discussion, make notes about the date, time and important points for your own records, just in case things don’t go well. If you are unable to resolve the issue and you feel you are owed money by a lawyer who will not give it to you, it may be time for a Fee Dispute.

Like ethics complaints, Fee Disputes are filed with the organization governing attorney licenses in your state. If they agree that you have a dispute, they will contact the lawyer with your concerns. If the problem is not resolved with a letter, they may schedule a hearing where you will have a chance to state your case. The lawyer may also be present. The hearing will probably be before a panel made up of other attorneys and possibly a member of the community (non-lawyer). Sometimes, if the amount of money in dispute is small, the case will be reviewed by just one person. A final determination will be made and hopefully, if you are owed money, the attorney will then pay you.

Or maybe they won’t. Most state bar associations have Client Security Funds to help out when the lawyer doesn’t pay (the attorney goes out of business or declares bankruptcy, for example). The Client Security Fund program will be discussed another day. And we will have further discussions about fees and fee disputes in the future as well. You work hard for your money and you want to be sure that your lawyer works hard for the money  you worked hard for!