The cost of legal services isn't cheap, so it's a good idea to understand what you're paying for, and how you will be billed for those services.
(No, the bills in the picture aren't the one's we're talking about!)
We don't know of many people who wake up one morning and say, 'Gee, today's a good day to blow some bucks on an attorney.' Most of the time, you'll need to hire an attorney when you think you're already in trouble, or you figure out that you need counsel to help you stay out of trouble. Hiring an attorney to represent or advise you is a serious step, and one you should take carefully. It's also something that you should take after fully understanding the obligations of the attorney, and your obligations to the attorney. In most cases, attorneys licensed by the State Bar of California are not allowed to represent a paying client without first having a fee agreement (sometimes inaccurately called a 'retainer agreement') signed by the client and attorney. The purpose of the fee agreement is to make sure that you...and the attorney...are clear as to what is to be done by the attorney on your behalf, and the fees and expenses associated with the attorney's services. When an attorney gives you a fee agreement to review and sign, you have a duty to yourself before signing it to carefully read the entire agreement and ask questions of the attorney if you don't understand each and every term in that agreement. Our fee agreements are designed to avoid the unnecessary use of legal jargon. If you'd like to see what one of our basic fee agreements looks like, you can download it by CLICKING HERE. Please note that each fee agreement is tailored for the particular client and matter, so some terms are likely to be added, omitted, or altered from the draft example linked here. And, no, you can't just fill in the blanks and send it to us. We'll take care of that, thank you. If you decide to retain our firm for legal representation or counsel, you should expect that in most cases, we will require you to provide a deposit against which we'll apply our bills. We generally require deposits of all new clients, and occasionally for existing clients. All deposit money is held in an Attorney Client Trust Account in accordance with the rules of the State Bar of California. If your deposit is made by check, we may wait for funds to clear prior to providing services. If your matter requires quick attention and we require a deposit against fees and expenses, you have the option of providing that deposit by Visa or MasterCard, and to have that deposit held in our Attorney Client Trust Account. We also accept Discover and American Express cards, but only for payments for our fees and expenses already earned (sorry; it's their rules, not ours).
Our Attorney Client Trust Account does not pay clients (or us) interest on deposits. Under State Bar rules, any interest earned from the Attorney Client Trust Account is paid directly to the State Bar of California Legal Services Trust Fund to help pay for California's low-income access to legal services program. You can read more about the State Bar's program by following this link. |
