Sorted by Commenter - Ethics - State of California

No. Commenter Position 1
29 National Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers
(John Wesley Hall)
Comment
on Behalf
of Group?
Rule 1.5 Fees for Legal Services.
[Sorted by Commenter]
Rule
Paragraph
RRC - 4-200 1-5 - Public Comment Chart - By Commenter - DFT3.1 (10-21-09)RD-KEM-AT-RD.doc
Comment RRC Response
attorney to work on other matters.
Funds held in trust accounts may be subject
to seizure, preventing the attorney from being
compensated adequately for work performed.
Rule 4-200 provides enough protection for
clients.
D Flat fee agreements are the most commonly
used form of retainer in criminal cases, and
they are critical to enabling clients of lesser
means to retain defense counsel.
Lawyers can seldom determine the exact
potential length of a matter and clients of
limited means cannot afford to pay a
refundable retainer large enough to assure
counsel a fair hourly rate.
Legitimacy of non-refundable fees should
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
manner that can easily be understood by
the client, include the following: (i) the scope
of the services to be provided; (ii) the total
amount of the fee and the terms of
payment; (iii) that the fee is the lawyer’s
property immediately on receipt; (iv) that the
fee agreement does not alter the client’s
right to terminate the client-lawyer
relationship; and (v) that the client may be
entitled to a refund of a portion of the fee if
the agreed-upon legal services have not
been completed.
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
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