In my last post of 2015, in the context of a discussion of a slightly different fee topic (nonrefundable fees), I made reference to the overarching “reasonableness” requirement under the ethics rules for attorney fees of any flavor, including contingency fees. The example I grabbed for at the time was how a 60% contingency fee […]
Tag: RPC 1.5
For my last post of 2015, some thoughts on a frequent source of trouble for lawyers in certain practice areas where efforts are often made to charge nonrefundable fees. In Tennessee, back in 2011, our rules were revised to specifically acknowledge the legitimacy of the concept of a nonrefundable fee but also to impose certain […]
A while back I wrote a piece about a relatively deep conversation I had about right and wrong and why lawyers do some really bad things with a SuperShuttle driver in Phoenix. If you missed it, you can read it here. But one of the things I didn’t say during that conversation was that there […]
Practicing in the part of the world that I do, I gape with both amazement and jealousy at the hourly rates lawyers are able to charge in much larger metropolitan areas. I try not to think about the difference in a way that is demeaning; instead, I try (perhaps just for more own sanity) to […]
When lawyers think about problematic business transactions with a client, they usually think about things like loans or, perhaps, situations in which a lawyer is joining a client as an investor in a business venture. The ethics rule regarding business transactions with clients, RPC 1.8(a), is broader in its coverage than just those situations and, […]
Near the end of February 2015, the New York City Bar put out its Formal Opinion 2015-2 evaluating a question of propriety of a flat, nonrefundable monthly fee in a retainer agreement and reached the conclusion that a particular one that was something of a “hybrid” was problematic. Although the NYC opinion makes for a […]