The Law Office of Edward Misleh
The Law Office of Edward Misleh
Skip to content
  • Home Page
  • Areas of Practice
    • Divorce Attorney
    • Domestic Violence Attorney
    • Child Custody Attorney
    • Child Support Attorney
    • Spousal Support Attorney
    • Community Property Attorney
    • Guardianship Attorney
    • Family Law Attorney
    • Adoption Attorney
    • California Attorney Blog
  • Resources
    • Forms
    • California Attorney Blog
    • Our Office
    • Website Search
    • Site Map
  • The Law Offices
  • Contact Us

-

Home » Areas of Practice » Forms » Attorney Client Fee Agreement

Attorney Client Fee Agreement

Posted on October 25, 2019February 28, 2020 by Editor

Attorney Client Fee Agreement

The attorney client fee agreement is the first document you should receive from your attorney.  It is a contract which you should read and fully understand before signing.


Money Disputes

Most disputes between lawyers and clients are over money—specifically, over how much money the client owes the lawyer.  To avoid these problems, your attorney is required to have a written agreement should your retainer be more than $1,000.


Retainer Agreement

The attorney client fee agreement—also called a retainer agreement or representation agreement—sets out the fees, as well as the terms of the lawyer-client relationship.  The agreement should clearly explain how the lawyer’s fees will be paid, who will work on the matter, and if you are involved in a lawsuit, how the court costs will be paid.


Termination

The agreement can also set out the circumstances in which either you or the lawyer can end the relationship, or it may set out rules of conduct—for example, that the lawyer will communicate regularly with you about lawsuit developments or that you will respond promptly to requests from the lawyer.


Binding Contract

A fee agreement is a contract that binds both you and the lawyer.  Like any other contract, you should sign it only after you are confident that you understand all of its terms and are happy with them.  If something isn’t clear, don’t hesitate to ask the lawyer for an explanation.  If you get a clear and sensible answer, you’ll feel better about your decision to hire this lawyer;  if you don’t, it’s a red flag you shouldn’t ignore.


Attorney Fees

Fees are commonly structured in one of three ways:  you either pay by the hour, pay a flat fee, or give the lawyer a percentage of whatever you win in a lawsuit.

  • Hourly fees.  The most common form of lawyer compensation is the hourly rate.  If the lawyer’s office uses legal assistants (trained nonlawyers who are sometimes called paralegals), you should be charged less for their time.  The fee agreement should set out: the hourly rates of the lawyer and anyone else in the lawyer’s office who might work on the case;  how often you will be billed;  how much detail the bill will include;  and, how long you have to pay the bill.  If the lawyer will require you to pay a deposit in advance (often called a retainer), the agreement should include the amount.
  • Flat fees.  Less common is a flat fee for a particular legal task.  Lawyers charge a flat fee for a matter that’s essentially routine—for example, drafting a simple will, trust, prenuptial agreement, postnuptial agreement, or power of attorney.  However, most legal matters involve some uncertainty about how much effort and time will be needed, though, making a flat fee impractical.  If a lawyer quotes you a flat fee, be sure you know what’s included in the basic fee and what’s not.
  • Contingency fees.  In certain kinds of cases, a lawyer waits until the case is over, then takes a percentage of the amount you win as a fee.  If you win a big amount, the lawyer’s fee climbs proportionately;  if you lose, the lawyer doesn’t get a fee.  This method of payment allows lawyers to aggressively represent people who have been wronged but can’t afford to pay a lawyer.  This type of “no win, no fee” arrangement is common in personal injury cases.  The lawyer agrees to help you settle your claim or file a lawsuit, in return for a handsome portion of a successful outcome.  If you’re paying a contingency fee, the agreement should state what percentage of any award the lawyer will take, whether that percentage will change over the course of the lawsuit (some lawyers collect a higher percentage if the case goes to trial than if the case settles our of court), and how the lawyer will collect the money.  It should also cover whether or not the lawyer will be entitled to a portion of whatever you win even if you fire the lawyer before the case is finished.

Litigation costs

If you’re in (or headed for) a lawsuit, the agreement should explain how litigation costs will be handled.  These costs include such things as fees for filing papers in court, court reporters, expert witnesses, private investigators, process servers or stenographers, copying costs, travel expenses, and messenger fees.  Even if a lawyer takes your case on a contingency fee basis (like the personal injury example), you still have to pay these costs, which can add up to several thousand dollars.  The good news is that if you win your case, the judge will usually order your adversary to pay you back for these costs.  Your agreement should spell out which of these costs you’ll have to pay, which (if any) your lawyer will pick up, and when you’ll be expected to pay them. Some lawyers in contingency fee cases will front the money for costs;  if you win, the lawyer is reimbursed from the award, but if you lose you’ll have to figure out some way to pay back the lawyer.


Other Issues

The agreement should also address these issues:

  • Extent of the representation.  The agreement should make clear that the lawyer will represent you in all legal proceedings, up to and including trial if that’s necessary. Some lawyers don’t handle appeals or other post-trial proceedings such as judgment collection—if this is true of your lawyer, the agreement should say so.
  • Who will do the work.  The agreement should specify who will be the “lead counsel” on the case and what that lawyer will handle personally.
  • Working together.  Some agreements explain how the client and the lawyer expect to work together.  For example, you might spell out which decisions the lawyer can make alone and which require your approval, or state that you will be honest and forthcoming with the lawyer.

Termination

Ending the relationship.  Some attorney client agreements state how each party can end the relationship.  For example, an agreement might state that the lawyer can quit at any time, or that the lawyer may quit only under specified circumstances.


Attorney Client Fee Agreement used by The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC when representing new clients.

File Download (PDF File): Client Fee Agreement

CALL NOW TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT

321-951-9164

For information about divorce or our firm, click on one of the following links:

Divorce

Starting Your California Divorce

California Divorce Process

California Divorce Attorney

California Family Code

Law Offices of Edward Misleh

Web Site Search

This disclaimer provides that any information provided on this website by The Law  Offices of Edward Misleh, APC is strictly informational and should not be interpreted or considered as legal advice.  If you have a legal concern, you should contact our office to speak with a licensed California Attorney.  Delaying to contact an attorney could result in harm to your interests.

Attorney-Client Relationship

No Attorney-Client Relationship Created by use of this Website: Neither your receipt of information from this website, nor your use of this website to contact The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC or one of its attorneys creates an attorney-client relationship between you and The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC. As a matter of policy, The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC does not accept a new client without first investigating for possible conflicts of interests and obtaining a signed engagement letter. Accordingly, you should not use this website to provide confidential information about a legal matter of yours to The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC.

Contacting us by telephone, email or other means, or transmitting information to us, will not establish an attorney-client relationship. The attorney-client relationship can only be established after we have determined that we are able and willing to accept the engagement and we have entered into a written engagement agreement. Until then, do not send any confidential information to us unless we specifically request it. Information communicated without such authorization may not be treated as confidential, secret or otherwise be protected from disclosure, and The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC will not be precluded from representing parties adverse to the sender of such information in any matter.

No Legal Advice Intended

This website includes information about legal issues and legal developments. Such materials are for informational purposes only and may not reflect the most current legal developments. These informational materials are not intended, and should not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances. You should contact an attorney for advice on specific legal problems.

No Guarantee of Results

Many of the practice summaries and individual attorney biography on this website describe results obtained in matters handled for The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC clients. These descriptions are meant only to provide information about the activities and experience of our attorney. They are not intended as a guarantee that the same or similar results can be obtained in every matter undertaken by our attorney; and, you should not assume that a similar result can be obtained in a legal matter of interest to you. The outcome of a particular matter can depend on a variety of factors—including the specific factual and legal circumstances, the ability of opposing counsel, and, often, unexpected developments beyond the control of any client or attorney.

Third Party Websites

As a convenience, this website may provide links to third-party websites. Such linked websites are not under the control of The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC, and The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of the contents of such websites.

No Warranty or Liability

The information in this site is provided “AS-IS,” without representation or warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, any representation or warranty as to suitability, reliability, applicability, accuracy, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, result, outcome or any other matter. We do not represent or warrant that such information is or will be up-to-date, complete or accurate, or free from errors, viruses, spyware, malware, adware, worms or other malicious code, or will function to meet your requirements.

You agree that we are not liable to you or others in any way for any damages of any kind or under any theory arising from this site, your access to or use of or reliance on the information in this site, including, but not limited to, liability or damages under contract, tort or other theories or any damages caused by lost data, malicious code, denials of service (including computer crashes), business interruption or other commercial damages or losses, even if we may have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Authorized Practice of Law

The jurisdiction in which our attorney is licensed to practice is in the State of California. The ability of our attorney to engage in any activities on behalf of a client outside that attorney’s state of licensure is subject to state statutes and professional codes and court rules. The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC does not seek, and this website is not intended to solicit, legal employment outside our attorney’s states of licensure that would constitute the unauthorized practice of law.

Intellectual Property Owned by The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC

Except as otherwise noted, all trademarks, photographs and other artwork, video clips, and written materials used in this site are protected by copyright laws and are owned or licensed by The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC. You may download information from our site for your temporary, personal, non-commercial use only. None of these items may be copied, reproduced, downloaded, posted, transmitted, broadcast or otherwise distributed in any manner without our prior written consent.

Privacy Policy
Site Map
Avvo - Rate your Lawyer. Get Free Legal Advice.
We gladly accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express.
Copyright 2023 The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC
Web site hosting by All Brevard Web Sites