Has Your Lawyer Given You a Contract or Retainer Agreement? Check it before you wreck it!
Hello and happy holidays from Alisa Levin at Levin Law, Ltd.! I had an interesting thing happen recently and it reminded me that sometimes clients may not fully understand how to hire an attorney, what it means to the lawyer, and what they are traditionally paying for. So, in many cases, when an attorney is hired, they will prepare a contract or even a letter that is given to the client and the client is expected to sign it. Those terms, within that document, form at least some (if not all) of the basic terms between the lawyer and the client. Here, I'd like to review, certain terms commonly found in a retainer agreement, and what they traditionally mean.
Rate: Lawyers by and large, charge hourly. As such, a "rate" that is offered to a client in most cases is an hourly rate. The retainer agreement should specify, how the lawyer charges, and whether or not the increments are tenths of an hour, quarter hour, half hour increments, or minimum hourly rates. One thing however, that a retainer is used for, and the client must understand, is that a retainer is not a flat fee. Once the retainer is used, then the lawyer will charge hourly for all work performed. That usually means, all emails, calls, meetings, court appearances, drafting, reviewing the file, researching or talking about the file, is billable.
Also, be sure you understand that credit card payments taken by the lawyer, if they are agreed to in the retainer, are lawful and appropriate, and your card will be charged pursuant to the retainer contract. Be sure you get that. It's illegal to dispute a credit card charge that was authorized, and competent lawyers are sure to get that signature up front allowing those charges. Be sure you get that.
Retainer agreements come in all shapes and sizes, but there is no need to rush your signature - even highly pressing matters can wait a day. It would be no excuse for you to fail to read it and then claim an agreement is unfair, so be sure you read everything and know and understand the terms. Lawyers draft the documents, so they can definitely explain them.
I use a retainer for all litigation matters in my practice, and I have to reference that language at least every few files when clients go rogue and pretend they don't understand the deal. But in reality, both parties should understand the deal long before the bill comes. You don't? Well, read your contract.
Got questions? See us at www.levinlawltd.com for more!
Alisa
Thursday, May 26, 2016
If You Don't Want an Attorney to Do Things For You, Then Do Not Hire One!
Hi All!
Happy almost-summer in the Chicagosphere, I hope you are all well. I have an interesting situation to write about today - so I thought I would share in my usual fashion, as news you can use... so let's go! Recently, a former client came back to ask me to assist with a commercial real estate transaction. He had purchased a distressed building in Chicago previously and he asked me to attend the closing since he lived out of town. The transaction was mostly smooth, so when it came time to purchase another property, he contacted me. However, this time, the deal was put together from scratch and I essentially worked on the contract at the beginning stages, so instead of just showing up for closing, I had a lot more work to do.
Now, during the entire "due diligence" or what some people call the "escrow period" a number of interesting things have been happening - much to my surprise. My client has not used a realtor or broker, and he has been basically going around me on every aspect of the transaction, even so far as to contact the title company and negotiate tax re-prorations with the seller and counsel, all without telling me about it. I have been finding out from the seller's broker and the seller's lawyer wha tis going on - and my client never calls me ahead of time. He just goes ahead and does everything himself.
So, what is the problem you ask? Well, A) he's doing my job - which I was hired to do and will be likely blamed later if something is not done right - so it's important that I not only know what is going on, if it's my job to do it and I should be paid to do it and you asked me to do it, then let me. Otherwise, it's an embarrassing situation, and the entire transaction (at least for how most parties do things in Illinois) looks very unorthodox - and it puts all of the professionals in a very uncomfortable position (i.e. they don't know who they should work with). Also, the B part) is that it's unprofessional to hire someone to do something and then take away everything they have to do, but still keep an expectation that the lawyer is there to do a job. If the client is going to do everything and make all the calls and do all the negotiating - then what is the lawyer hired for? It creates animosity, confusion and certainly makes the lawyer want to run for the hills.
Here are my tips to avoid this scenario:
Happy almost-summer in the Chicagosphere, I hope you are all well. I have an interesting situation to write about today - so I thought I would share in my usual fashion, as news you can use... so let's go! Recently, a former client came back to ask me to assist with a commercial real estate transaction. He had purchased a distressed building in Chicago previously and he asked me to attend the closing since he lived out of town. The transaction was mostly smooth, so when it came time to purchase another property, he contacted me. However, this time, the deal was put together from scratch and I essentially worked on the contract at the beginning stages, so instead of just showing up for closing, I had a lot more work to do.
Now, during the entire "due diligence" or what some people call the "escrow period" a number of interesting things have been happening - much to my surprise. My client has not used a realtor or broker, and he has been basically going around me on every aspect of the transaction, even so far as to contact the title company and negotiate tax re-prorations with the seller and counsel, all without telling me about it. I have been finding out from the seller's broker and the seller's lawyer wha tis going on - and my client never calls me ahead of time. He just goes ahead and does everything himself.
So, what is the problem you ask? Well, A) he's doing my job - which I was hired to do and will be likely blamed later if something is not done right - so it's important that I not only know what is going on, if it's my job to do it and I should be paid to do it and you asked me to do it, then let me. Otherwise, it's an embarrassing situation, and the entire transaction (at least for how most parties do things in Illinois) looks very unorthodox - and it puts all of the professionals in a very uncomfortable position (i.e. they don't know who they should work with). Also, the B part) is that it's unprofessional to hire someone to do something and then take away everything they have to do, but still keep an expectation that the lawyer is there to do a job. If the client is going to do everything and make all the calls and do all the negotiating - then what is the lawyer hired for? It creates animosity, confusion and certainly makes the lawyer want to run for the hills.
Here are my tips to avoid this scenario:
- if your matter is transactional and most parties in the state hire lawyers, then you should too - it's commonplace for a reason
- just because you are smart, doesn't mean you have the appropriate training and knowledge to handle things yourself - please do not overestimate your skills and underestimate those of the lawyer. It's insulting to the attorney
- if you hire someone to do a job, stop micromanaging and let the professional do their job. You don't get down on your hands and knees and interrupt someone who is laying tile in a bathroom - why do it with a lawyer? It smells bad, and ruins the attorney-client relationship - and is quite embarrassing for the lawyer when it looks like their client is out of control.
- lawyers get paid either flat fee or by the hour. Most lawyers across the country charge hourly - especially for commercial matters. Stop being cheap. there is always a lawyer who charges less - you are free to find them but trying to take over a file just to save money means really only that you will screw yourself, screw up the deal, and have to pay me more to fix what you messed up. It would have been cheaper to let the lawyer just do her job from the get-go.
The bottom line here, is that for a variety of reasons, if you are unsure about whether or not you need counsel - stick to custom and practice for the area. In Illinois, it's customary to use lawyers for real estate. Any competent real estate lawyer will tell you that in other states where they do not use lawyers, it's because they are too unskilled and unprofessional to k now that it's totally ridiculous to not have a lawyer, and not using one in real estate is just like operating on one's own foot. It's rarely done and the guy who does probably only has one foot as a result. Second, if you are going to hire someone - let them do their job. Too much toe-stepping is a recipe for a breakup, and a quick one.
Visit www.levinlawltd.com for more information and news you can use, and feel free to visit us on Yelp.com / Levinlawltd to see how Chicago loves Levin Law! Happy Summer!
Alisa
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