SO I fired my Atty...He wants my retainer!!!

[Dollar Bill]

I hired an Atty a few weeks ago. He would have cost $3,000. I gave him half down because you never know if you will have to fire or not. I have placed 6 calls to him direct. Once he called me back, the other time he picked up the phone and rushed me off. Very quickly. I am suppose to work with his parallegal. I spoke to her twice, she hardly picks up the phone or takes my calls. She doesn't even answer my emails.

Once I dropped my paperwork off, she said she will call me in a week to set an ppt to come and sign. I called her back after a week and a day, and asked when we could sign....she then said give her a week and then I'll call you. AS IF SHE HAD NEVER SAID THAT BEFORE. I was pissed. I set a date and then called back. She was out to lunch, and the sec. took a message. I called back two hours later, and the sec. places me on hold for a while, then says she went home for the day. (At what point of the 4 mins holding do you realize she went home for the day. There are only 6 people working there). I thought "this is not going to work out."

I emailed and faxed a letter over asking for my paperowrk and retainer back. I told them that I could pick it up or have them use my express account and overnight it. They have not done so until as of yet.

I CALLED AND SPOKE TO THE PARALLEGAL AND SHE APOLOGIZED AND STATED THAT SHE WILL GET IT OUT ASAP, THE LAWYER WAS STILL TRYING TO DECIDE ON HOW MUCH OF MY RETAINER HE WANTED. SHE SAID HE WANTS TO RETURN LESS THAN HALF.

I KNOW THAT THIS PARALLEGAL HAS NOT STARTED ANY WORK ON MY FILE. SHE OPENED MY FREAKING PACKAGE WHILE ON THE PHONE WITH HER WHEN I WAS SUPPOSE TO COME IN AND SIGN DOCS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE ALREADY.

WHAT SHOULD I DO??? GO TO SMALL CLAIMS COURT AFTER MY 341 OR AFTER I AM DISCHARGED?

DO I OWE THEM A PORTION OF THE RETAINER EARNED ON SIGNING...SHE SAID SOMETHING TO ME OF THAT EFFECT?

[HHM]

Generally, some portion of the retainer is earned. But, if they really have not done much work, they may have a hard time justifying keeping all $1,500.

In any event, nearly every state bar has a mechanism for fee disputes. So your first course of action is to initiate a fee dispute by contacting your State Bar Association.

[Dollar Bill]

Thanks HHM I saw a link on here somewher that had the BAR info on it. Thank Again.

[momof5]

I know paralegals do alot of work but whats with the paralegals that seem to do it all. I give up trying to get ahold of mine. 7 times now and still no return call. Its ridiculious. My husband managed to get through and demand an earlier appointment or we were going to refer all phone calls to them. This was through the secretary.

We are supposed to go in and sign the paperwork Wednesday and there are about 9 corrections that need to be made from the draft that was sent to us. Hopefully they can do it all that day. All I can say is was definately not for lack of trying that we didnt give prior notice as to how many mistakes (account numbers,mailing addresses).

I feel for you and hopefully you can get this all worked out. I am almost curious if we have the same law office!!!

[lrprn]

Thanks HHM I saw a link on here somewher that had the BAR info on it. Thank Again.

To save you searching, here's a good place to find every bar association in the US - http://www.abanet.org/barserv/stlobar.html . Just click on your state and good luck!

If you decide to report this lawyer for misconduct in the practice of law, here's the link to do that - http://www.nbtanet.org/public/discipline/index.shtml

[FreshLikeADaisy]

Dollar Bill, the only thing I can add is that in addition to lodging a complaint with your state's Bar Association, to write a letter to the atty explaing the nature of your problem, the ways he has failed to provide service to you, why you believe he has done no work on your behalf, reaffirming that you are firing him, and requesting your retainer back in full immediately. Send this certified, return receipt requested. You don't want them coming back and saying you never told them there was a problem; this helps prove that you went above and beyond in trying to work it out with the atty and he actually was notified of the issues you have with him. Good luck!!!

[gophermn]

I had something close happen to me and I know Fresh-Daisy heard it all.. Basically I had the same thing and lost the retainer.

[Dollar Bill]

Thanks FreshLikeADaisy for the info. I will write a letter.

Gophermn - what are the details on how you lost your retainer?

[Flamingo]

Finding a good attorney is like finding a good doctor, dentist, etc. You may not be happy with the one you first pick on your own. With today's internet and many resources available in the professional world for checking out a lawfirm, attorney, doctor, dentist, school, etc., etc. always do homework before retaining/hiring. Granted, folks ready to file BK are so emotional and scared and don't know what to do, checking on lawyers' backgrounds is the last thing on their minds. There are bad apples in every crate. Working in a law firm, I know how busy it gets but that is no reason not to respond to clients and explain what is going on or give them time frames as to what is happening in their matter, etc.

When you provide a retainer to an attorney and there is some work done, you may not get the entire retainer back. If one is not happy with the way their case is being handled, the best thing to do is to confront the attorney head on or their superior in a law firm if it is not a one man show. One can always contact their State Bar Association and get information on filing a Complaint against any attorney in the state in which they reside.

[gophermn]

Dollar Bill, basically from day one they stated that if I decided to not use their services they will keep the retainer and mail back the remaining balance I paid them. Obviously their work and professionalism wasn't worth one red-cent but I knew beforehand I was going to lose it.

And you better believe when it came to my 341 and they were questioning my debt vs income I made sure they understood I literally gave a way $500 for an incompetent attorney. Well - I didnt really say that, but it was listed as debt in my petition.

If I would have visited this site before looking for attorneys, I would have most likely taken the right-path and this all would have been over by now (sigh). Oh well, live-n-learn.

[justplaintired]

One quick question, had you paid this attorney is full already and that's why you were signing papers? What papers were you signing? Because here, until the attorney is paid in full, other then the contract there is nothing to be signed. BK is unlike other legal matters, most attorney's want all money paid in full before they even start working on your case.

If you only had this attorney on retainer, I guess I don't understand what he would have had you signing. Technically here if all you've done is paid a partial payment, they don't even start doing anything on your case, other then maybe take calls from creditors if you forward them to them and basically say they will be representing you in a BK case.

If I am off the mark here, I do apologize, but I know BK is on the rise and personally I feel most BK attorney's are probably swamped and with tax returns and the tax stimulus package coming soon, my guess is BK may hit an all time record. I know, for us, being patient and waiting to file may pay off, our stimulus money should be coming soon and maybe the fact that we waited on our attorney to get to us, might mean we can use our stimulus ck to get some things done we need done.

[Dollar Bill]

The full retainer was $3000. I paid $1500. She said lets meet in a week. I called back a week and one day later. She spoke a bit of jibber jabber and opened my packet while I was on the phone. She then said "oh...lets meet in a week......) I basically called back later that day and said this isn't going to work out....).

I think I am entitled to the full refund. Knowing head on that she opened my packet that same day I decided to move on. They may say we did some work on it. Can I ask for that work?

[HHM]

We may need to clarify some language...there is a difference between "retainer" and "fee". (or, at least usually there is).

So, when you say your full retainer is $3,000, you are probably referring to the total FEE your attorney will charge for his services. A retainer is an amount of money required to "hire" the attorney. The retainer gets "applied" to the fee as the work is done. Typically some part of the retainer is earned when you sign as the consideration for the attorney obligating his resources to your case and opening a file.

In any event, you need to do a few things.
1. (as was already suggested), you need to send a letter to the attorney terminating his service and requesting a full refund of the retainer and return of any documents that you sent. Then you need to give that letter some time, (about 6-10 business days). Odds are the retainer agreement requires you to terminate services in writting anyway.
2. If the attorney is on the ball, if they don't refund the "full" amount, they should provide you with an accounting (a statement) of how the retainer was allocated.
3. If you don't receive that accounting, or you are not satisfied with that accounting, then you would initiate a fee dispute with the State Bar.

[Dollar Bill]

Thanks for the info HHM.

I just got off the phone with his office. I asked for the parallegal and the attorney picked up. Only time I could get him on the phone I guess. He never let me get a word in. Even when I tried to talk over him.

He kept saying "I'm going to charge for my time." I will get a chart on my time." I have no idea when I will get this to you.

I think that's what really pissed me off. "I have no idea when I will get this to you."

Man, I am a pretty calm person...not much upsets me. That pissed me off pretty good.

I wonder what it is he will say they did. He said he charges $300hr for his time. My signed retainer has $250 on it. I never received a signed copy from his office.

[PaKettle]

Ask for a copy of the contract you signed when you retained him. Read it and see if it says anything about his legal right to any monies if you don't pay the rest of the fee.

Send the letter asap, registered, certified, etc. that outlines your "case against him" and why you feel you are entitled to full money back or if you feel like it offer him, say $250 for his troubles and you will then NOT file a complaint with the State Bar against him.

I agree that you really should owe nothing but it might be worth a couple hundred bucks just to make this go away.

But do write the letter and send it and point out that it was apparent on the phone that no work had been done when you called and that if he wants to try and charge you, you will fight him in Small Claims Court if necessary.

Good luck!