- April 23, 2024
- Posted by: legaleseblogger
- Category: Related News
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## Seeking Help with Lawyer Retainer Fee Refunds
Hello all,
I am reaching out to the community for some assistance regarding the rules surrounding lawyer retainer fee refunds.
### Background of the Situation
I initially retained a lawyer for a substantial amount of $7,500.00, with an hourly rate of $475. However, it seems that the work done by the attorney was minimal, totaling around 3 hours or less.
As I looked into the matter further, I realized that I may be entitled to a refund of around $6,000. However, upon inquiring about the refund, I faced dodging tactics from the firm for about two weeks. They kept promising to call me back but failed to do so, leaving me in a state of uncertainty.
### Unraveling the Contractual Terms
Eventually, the managing attorney at the firm contacted me and referred to the retainer fee agreement. Due to a pressing court date, I quickly signed the agreement without thoroughly reviewing its contents.
The contract stipulated that the retainer fee of $7,500.00 does not necessarily represent the total fee I may incur. It further outlined additional charges based on hourly rates and other expenses incurred on my behalf.
### Legal Standoff
Despite my expectation of a refund as per New York rules, the firm cited the signed retainer agreement as binding, thereby overriding any entitlement to a refund. They are also refusing to provide a breakdown of the final bill, adding to my frustration.
### Seeking Solutions with AI Legalese Decoder
In such a complex legal scenario, the AI Legalese Decoder can be a valuable tool in unraveling the intricate language of legal documents. By inputting the contract terms, the AI can help analyze the clauses and determine the enforceability of certain provisions.
### Taking Action
Considering the advice from an attorney friend in California regarding the unenforceability of such clauses, I am contemplating the option of filing a complaint with the NY Bar and leaving a negative review to pressure the firm into cooperation.
Despite the firm’s reputation and potentially well-practiced tactics, I am determined to challenge their stance and seek a fair resolution.
### Seeking Guidance
Any advice or insights from the community on how to navigate this challenging situation would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your support.
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You say in another comment that he went to a two hour hearing with you, spoke with you on the phone for an hour, texted each other around ten texts, and was sent a contract to review.
They need to give you an itemized bill, but don’t be surprised if they bill you for 12-16 hours of work.
Definitely file a complaint with the NY bar.
Don’t tell them you’re filing a complaint. Just file it and wait for their explaining the “misunderstanding” to you and the Bar.
1) Are they refusing to send you a bill, or have they sent a bill that needs more itemization? If the former, demand an itemized bill. If the latter, demand explanation. If neither is done, contact the bar.
2) What leads to the assumption of 3 hours of work? Is that based on in court time, time in meetings with you, some statement? Where are you getting the estimate of 3 hours?
I ask because at the rate you state, the retainer would cover (assuming no other costs) about 16 hours of time. You assume only 3 hours of time was spent on the matter, but then say you retained them specifically because you had a court appearance in 2 days. If you’re going off of the time talking to you and the time in court alone, you’re not considering time spent coming up to speed and preparing for court. Not saying it would add up to 16 hours, just saying you may be underestimating attorney time.
In any case, they need to give you a bill. The language you cited is just standard retainer language – we took a retainer, it isn’t a flat fee, we will bill you hourly against this retainer. Essentially “you may end up owing us more than this.” You need to know what’s being billed against the retainer, and they need to provide you with that accounting since retainers remain property of the client held in trust until earned.
Go ahead and file. Here’s more information about the fee dispute resolution program. Note: this program doesnt apply to criminal cases. I’m assuming you’re in New York County. https://www.nycla.org/part-137-fee-dispute-resolution-program/
Different states obviously have different rules, but when I was practicing, I worked for our state bar. Attorneys were required to provide clients an accounting when they requested. They couldn’t simply say, I did the work, we are done! [not to get into the weeds** but the notion of a “retainer” often gets used when they really mean an advanced fee (Ie you pay me 7500, I do work and bill against it. It runs out, I need more, you pay more). A TRUE retainer is me agreeing to represent you with the main tradeoff that I’m available to you and don’t really have other clients. You are essentially paying for my exclusivity (again, this is not actually what attorneys are intending to provide, they *usually* mean advanced fee but they say “retainer”) A huge PITA trust me I dealt with it for 10 years…]
In my state, if a client filed a complaint similar to this, we looked into it. The attorney should’ve provided a statement showing what work was done and how much it cost. We didn’t get into billing disputes (“he said he did 6hrs of work but I know it only took 4!”), but it was a violation of the rules to NOT provide such a statement AND was actionable by our office.
FWIW, they probably spent more hours than you thought, but maybe/probably not the entire amount. Regardless, they likely should provide a statement. File a complaint with the NY state bar. Here is a link: [https://nysba.org/public-resources/guide-to-attorney-discipline/](https://nysba.org/public-resources/guide-to-attorney-discipline/)
In NY file with the Second Judicial Part Attorney Grievance Committees. They cover Quieens. Had a similar problem years ago and it was settled quickly.
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Look up Nee York State Bar Ethics Opinion 1245 which addresses when a lawyer charges a flat fee or a minimum fee for work. The fee cannot be excessive. I think $7500 for $1500 of work seems excessive to me but I have no idea about what the lawyer actually did and what a reasonable fee might be.
The State Bar complaint is the way to go. If the fee is determined to be excessive the state bar can order restitution. It’s way cheaper and less time consuming than filing a lawsuit.
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fees are somewhat debatable in the legal community and there are not exactly strict rules about them however… there is a sort of well known good faith rule among legal representatives that the first three minutes isn’t charged as billed time. so say for example if you call your legal representative for a quick question that doesn’t take a whole three minutes to answer it just isn’t the amount of effort worth billing for. kind of a given unless you become an effort to deal with as a pest you aren’t quite tasking taxing them for their time. some lawyers have gotten into trouble for such things billing to the second or found to be rounding up their time however it isn’t a given you can do much about it and you would need to show that they had not used some of your money on resources they had employed such as database searches or private eyes as examples. so if you are accusing them of not making full use of their skills and resources you need to know for certain that they didn’t in fact do so with verifiable evidence. it could be considered fraud in some cases or just expensive but justifiable. one thing you do want to avoid is becoming known as a person who people in the legal community would rather not deal with. so if you do believe with proof that you were defrauded then file a complaint with evidence. otherwise you might just want to find new legal representation the next time.