are legal retainers refundable
If it is not, the fee may be found excessive. An agreement which is actually an advance payment might provide, for example: Responsibility to provide legal services will be accepted and work begun when attorney receives $________ as an advance retainer against the fees and expenses.. The Supreme Court of Texas, Comm. on Interpretation of the Code of Professional Responsibility, in its opinion Op. 391, issued in 1978, states that an attorney may deposit non-refundable retainer fees into a general operating account because the attorney has earned the fee once it is received. While it is almost certainly inadvisable to include the words “non-refundable” in any retainer agreement, the use of that language does not seem to be a per se violation of the ethics rules or to result automatically in fee forfeiture. In Matter of Tate [258 A.D.2d 120, 691 N.Y.S.2d 477 (1st Dept. Retainer Law and Legal Definition. A retainer fee is the fee which detains an attorney for legal counsel. With this fee, the attorney is certain of the seriousness of your intentions and can take your case to heart. [Matter of Cooperman, 187 A.D.2d 56 (2nd Dept. 1993).] The Court of Appeals agreed and held that “non refundable” retainers were inherently unethical and improper. The Court distinguished general retainers, which secure a lawyer’s appearance, but are not applied to any legal services which the lawyer might render. The treatment of minimum, non-refundable retainers may vary from state to state, but in Florida this type of retainer is equivalent to advance payment of services. When the minimum, non-refundable retainer is given to an attorney, it immediately is owned by the attorney and does not go into a trust account. Legal representation can be paid for in many ways, including requiring a minimum, non-refundable retainer when initiating work for a client. Once the amount of work performed equals the value of this initial retainer, the client will be billed for additional work. Reasonable fees that secure a lawyer’s appearance (and compensate the lawyer for the loss of other or future business) are ethical and proper. Cooperman held that lawyers could not charge “non-refundable” retainers, but left intact retainer payments which are not meant to be applied to future legal services. A case retainer is a nonrefundable fee that a client pays to a law office as an inducement for legal work to be performed for the client. What this really means is that the client is offering additional money to entice the attorney to take the case. Advanced Payment Retainer: An advanced payment retainer is intended to compensate an attorney for legal services. If money is not a true retainer, it is most likely an advanced payment retainer. It is paid in advance and billed against as the attorney performs services and/or incurs costs on behalf of the client. If an attorney required you to pay a “non-refundable” retainer fee, would you hire that attorney? Many people do, although there are few situations in which a “non-refundable” fee is appropriate. An attorney must refund unearned fees, unless those fees fit into the definition of a “true” or “classic” retainer.
No, a case retainer is a nonrefundable fee.