Sorted by Commenter - Ethics - State of California

No. Commenter Position 1
14 San Diego County Bar
Association
Comment
on Behalf
of Group?
Rule 1.5 Fees for Legal Services.
[Sorted by Commenter]
Rule
Paragraph
Comment RRC Response
action in order to ensure that all of California’s
new Rules of Professional Conduct are
lawfully adopted.
D Yes CA should adopt ABA Model Rule 1.5(a) with
the addition of the factors in rule 4-200 to
determine reasonableness.
15 Michael Pancer D No I believe that the “flat fee” can play an
important role in maximizing the availability of
legal services, especially to those who can
least afford it.
Many clients prefer to have a “flat fee”
arrangement. Unless a client is extremely
wealthy, a client is concerned about the cost
of legal services and often does not want to
enter into an agreement where the amount is
indefinite. And while there may be attorneys
who would take advantage of the “flat fee”
opportunity, certainly there now exists
sufficient safeguards to prevent
“unconscionable” fees. But if “flat fee”
contracts are not going to be enforced and
therefore not entered, many potential clients
will find themselves unable to avail
themselves of legal services that they request
and require.
Commission’s recommendation for paragraph (a) of the
Rule is to retain the prohibition on an “unconscionable
or illegal” fee, in part, because the Commission has
considered existing California case law and supports
the policy reflected in that case law.
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
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
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