Sorted by Commenter - Ethics - State of California

No. Commenter Position 1
13 The Professional
Responsibility and Ethics
Committee of the Los
Angeles County Bar
Association (PREC)
Comment
on Behalf
of Group?
Rule 1.5 Fees for Legal Services.
[Sorted by Commenter]
Rule
Paragraph
M Yes 1.5(e)(2) The proposal discourages lawyers from
efficiently resolving matters given the potential
it creates for a client to request a refund
because “the agreed-upon legal services
have not been completed.” For example, if a
lawyer settles a matter before trial, a fee
agreement that provided that the fee would
cover representation through trial could be
construed to require a partial refund, even
though the case was favorably resolved. This
would be unfair, and is contrary to the
longstanding treatment of what constitutes an
earned fee.
Comment RRC Response
To address the commenter’s concerns but still
provide for enhanced client protection, the
Commission revised the approach to advance fee
payments in paragraph (e) of the Rule to provide as
follows:
(2) a lawyer may charge a flat fee for specified
legal services, which constitutes complete
payment for those services and may be paid
in whole or in part in advance of the lawyer
providing the services. If agreed to in
advance in a writing signed by the client, a
flat fee is the lawyer’s property on receipt.
The written fee agreement shall, in a
RRC - 4-200 1-5 - Public Comment Chart - By Commenter - XDFT1.1 (5-26-10) doc.doc Page 22 of 28 Printed: 5/26/2010
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