Sorted by Commenter - Ethics - State of California

No. Commenter Position 1
Comment
on Behalf
of Group?
Rule 1.5 Fees for Legal Services.
[Sorted by Commenter]
Rule
Paragraph
41 Tarlow, Barry D Subparagraph (f) is not in the ABA Model
Rules and has not been sufficiently
publicized, disseminated or explained in a
manner that informs members of the bar of its
existence and permits them to respond or
object.
RRC - 4-200 1-5 - Public Comment Chart - By Commenter - DFT3.1 (10-21-09)RD-KEM-AT-RD.doc
Comment RRC Response
Proposed rule would prevent fully informed
client and attorney from entering into a nonrefundable
retainer agreement where this fee
arrangement is in the client’s best interest.
Threatens economic viability of high volume,
low fee practices.
Under the proposal, any portion of fees for
future legal services would be the property of
the client and may be subject to restraint or
forfeiture. This exposes attorneys to financial
peril by facilitating restraint/seizure of fees if
any client has potential criminal or bankruptcy
problem or has a dispute with the IRS, SEC or
even a vulnerability to creditor’s claims.
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.
The proposal was issued for a 90-day public
comment period posted on the State Bar website
and was also the subject of a public hearing in
Sacramento that was noticed by several methods,
including: a posting at the State Bar website;
public notices in the Daily Journal, the Daily
Recorder, and the Sacramento Bee; e-mail
notifications to approximately 14,000 interested
persons; and a press release to the media.
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
manner that can easily be understood by
the client, include the following: (i) the scope
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