Any lawyers here?

[lokiju]

Cliffs:
Can I drop my contingency based lawyer without incurring any hidden fee's and just be done with it all?

 

[Jeeebus]

Depends on the contingency agreement. There may be a clause in there entitling the lawyer to something. May not be. No clause = you can walk. Consult the agreement. If a lawyer takes something on contingency, it's part of the risk of doing business.

 

[kranky]

What does your agreement say?

I think it's unlikely you can walk away scot-free.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

It depends on your agreement, but generally the way this is handled is that if the lawyer has done substantial work, he will attach an attorney's lien to your claim. If you never recover anything, you don't owe him anything, but if you do, he retains the right to be paid for the work he's performed.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: kranky
What does your agreement say?

I think it's unlikely you can walk away scot-free.

I'll have to dig it out and look.

I'm guessing I'd be responsible for something considering the amount of time they've put into this, but then again they state that if "they don't win then I don't pay" so I'm not sure either way.

Damn moving, makes it so hard to find anything.

 

[superHARD]

Originally posted by: DonVito
It depends on your agreement, but generally the way this is handled is that if the lawyer has done substantial work, he will attach an attorney's lien to your claim. If you never recover anything, you don't owe him anything, but if you do, he retains the right to be paid for the work he's performed.

I'm no lawyer, but this sounds right (and he sounds like he knows what he is talking about)

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: DonVito
It depends on your agreement, but generally the way this is handled is that if the lawyer has done substantial work, he will attach an attorney's lien to your claim. If you never recover anything, you don't owe him anything, but if you do, he retains the right to be paid for the work he's performed.

That sounds very client-friendly. Only downside if the client wins the case is having to give up more of the settlement to the lawyer who got the boot. That's not too bad if you ask me.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: kranky

Originally posted by: DonVito
It depends on your agreement, but generally the way this is handled is that if the lawyer has done substantial work, he will attach an attorney's lien to your claim. If you never recover anything, you don't owe him anything, but if you do, he retains the right to be paid for the work he's performed.

That sounds very client-friendly. Only downside if the client wins the case is having to give up more of the settlement to the lawyer who got the boot. That's not too bad if you ask me.

In my experience some larger, more successful plaintiff's firms don't impose these kinds of liens, whereas the bottom-feeder plaintiff's lawyers pretty much always do, even where they've done very little work - it's really up to the lawyer. It definitely creates a disincentive for the client considering firing his attorney, since he might end up paying his first lawyer out of his share of what the second lawyer has collected. A large attorney's lien can also scare off subsequent lawyers, since their own fees are second in line for enforcement.