What Does Retaining A Lawyer Mean? - Parnall & Adams Law What Does Retaining A Lawyer Mean? By “retaining” a lawyer, you are establishing an attorney-client relationship with that lawyer.
Your lawyer must keep your confidences, with rare exceptions. The most basic principle underlying the lawyer-client relationship is that lawyer-client communications are privileged, or confidential.
However, retainer agreements also carry the risk that you will pay for unused services. If you enter into a retainer agreement that makes a lawyer available to you for a couple of months, but then never use the lawyer’s services for the duration of the contract, you will still be obligated to pay any agreed-upon retaining fees.
Lawyer-client communications are confidential only if they are made in a context where it would be reasonable to expect that they would remain confidential. ( Katz v. U.S., 389 U.S. 347 (1967).)
Other terms of a retainer agreement may include: 1 Means for fee arbitration, in case of a dispute 2 Expectations for client cooperation and communication 3 Right for the attorney to withdraw 4 Right for the client to terminate 5 Whether any associates, paralegals or contract lawyers will be needed and their expenses 6 No guarantee of the result 7 Privacy policy of the lawyer and law firm, including action over property and files of the client after the case 8 Conflict checks
Retainers are established by entering into a retainer agreement — a formal document that details the obligations, terms and expectations of the attorney-client relationship, and may specify retainer fees, contact rules or methods, or basic expectations. Retainer agreements often vary in length and content depending on the terms of the retainer. However, there are essential parts of a retainer agreement which you can typically expect, regardless of jurisdiction or type of case.
A general retainer contracts the attorney for a specific period instead of a specific project. During this time, the client can expect the lawyer to be available for discussion or questions about legal matters, or sometimes to guarantee priority attention. A retaining fee is a single deposit or lump sum fee the client pays in advance ...
The retainer fee is the amount charged to the client. The agreement must show the basis of the fee in detail. When appropriate, specific examples can be written down. For example, this includes flat fees for certain cases or projects.
At a minimum, you'll want to know about the lawyer's expertise and whether the lawyer is a veteran or beginner attorney, for instance. Your legal issue may very well be handled by someone who is fresh out of law school, (or not). It all depends.
You'll also want to know about a lawyer's expertise and how much of the attorney's practice is devoted to topic area your legal issue falls within. For example, if you need help with an adoption case, you may wish to seek a family law lawyer who has worked on, well, adoption cases. Click here for a full list of practice area definitions.
This is an important, but often-overlooked question. For example, if you are an individual with a particular legal problem, but the attorney your meeting with represents only corporations, this may not be the best lawyer for you. Likewise, you may wish to know the financial background of some of the lawyer's clients.
Now is not the time to act shy. Feel free to ask about the attorney's track record, such as the number of cases won or settled, for example.
Some cases, like DUI and patent cases, require specialized training and knowledge for effective representation. Be sure to inquire whether your case fits into that category.
This step is obviously an important one. You'll want to know whether you can afford the lawyer's services and how you will be required to pay. This is also the time to ask about payment options and how often, and under what circumstances, you will be billed.
This can be important in two ways. First, if you are seeking an amicable divorce, for example, but the attorney is known to "go for the kill" in divorce cases, the attorney may not be the right one for you.
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A New Jersey lawyer was suspended for six months for misrepresenting to clients for about eight years that their arbitration matter “was proceeding apace,” when he actually had never filed their claim. The lawyer also concealed from his firm for almost two years the malpractice suit that the clients later filed, including the default judgment in the clients’ favor. The case shines a light on the drastic lengths to which lawyers can go to cover up a mistake — and how that just makes things worse.
Model Rule 8.2 (a) prohibits statements “that the lawyer knows to be false” or makes “with reckless disregard as to [the statement’s] truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge” or other judicial or public legal official, including a candidate.
The doctrine operates to immunize lawyers from liability for statements made during the litigation process that are related to the litigation, even if they injure an oppos ing party. ( Here’s a 2015 Hofstra Law Review article that provides an overview.)
The court noted that tenancy in the entirety is a form of ownership originating before married women had legal identities and property interests of their own. The doctrine enabled spouses to own property jointly, which would belong to the survivor when one spouse died. But once women could hold property in their own right, states “splintered in their approach to tenancy the entirety,” the court said.
The Washington supreme court addressed this issue in Karstetter v. King County Corrections Guild. Jared Karstetter was an in-house attorney for the Corrections Officers Guild, under a five-year contract that provided for just-cause termination with notice and an opportunity to be heard. In 2016, Karstetter was contacted by a whistle-blower regarding parking reimbursements to Guild members. The Guild directed Karstetter to cooperate with the investigation while the Guild sought advice from outside counsel.
In its engagement letter, the firm stated that its engagement “is limited,” and “does not create an attorney-client relationship with any person or entity other than you.”