Q. In charging clients by the hour, aren't we rewarded for inefficiency and penalized for expeditious resolutions? Is there a more ethical way to bill our clients for legal services?
The Lawyer's Lawyer
Lawyers Helping Lawyers Avoid the Perils of Professional Discipline
Q. After ten months of discovery in a complex civil case, my client fired me for "taking too long" and refused to pay her bill. Now, her new lawyer has asked me for the file. May I keep it until I get paid?
Q. Whenever my client gets a bill, he calls to question each of my time entries, keeping me on the phone for 30-45 minutes each time. May I bill him for this time?
Q. After a rear-end crash and two years of treatment, the victim retained me on contingency. Within a week, I sent the liability carrier a strong settlement demand along with $175,000 in medical bills. After getting $300,000 in policy limits, my client says I didn't do "enough work" to earn a third of it. A deal's a deal, right?
Q. I regularly fly to depositions for a client that pays for my time in transit. If I work on another client's case during the flight, may I bill that time as well?
Q. After lengthy litigation, we recently collected a large outstanding bill from a client who filed a frivolous counterclaim against us for malpractice. To prevent this from happening again, may we require binding arbitration in future retainer agreements?
Q. I gave ten years of my life to this firm.
But I think I've reached my limit on the fees that I can earn.
I should fly solo, yet there's much that I must learn.
What are the proper ways to leave my law firm?
Q. I settled a weak case for $30,000, and got my client's medical bills reduced to $15,000. But my client is angry that he's "netting a measly $5,000," won't let me pay his doctors, and objects to my one-third fee. What should I do?