Bait & Switch, DTP by lawyer? Time to get new lawyer?

[FRESHJASMINE]

Background: I am in Houston, TX. I was sue by the city for deed violation. I engaged a lawyer to represent me because I am afraid of the city and the lawyer especially my English is not that good. When I signed up with this lawyer, he sold me on his over 10 years experience and education from a upper law school. Before I sign up, he did not mention that he will have someone other than him work on the case. I had never met any other lawyer in his law firm. We sign up with the goal of negotiating with the city. I paid him a retainer with the verbal agreement that he will let me know before the retainer runs out.

I signed up with him in December 2014. I have a meeting with 2 lawyers from his office. I assume that it is going under his hourly charge because there is not mention about other lawyer's involvement and I don't think my case is so complex that I will need a team of lawyer.I just received my first fee statement in March to find out many things that I did not expect.

1) I was charged for a team of lawyer. Lawyer A just graduate for a few months. Lawyer B just graduates a few years. In the fee statement, I go charge for; Lawyer A reviews the file, Lawyer B reviews the file, Lawyer A consults with Lawyer B. Lawyer B reviews case file with Lawyer A. As a result, my bill is more than double for a simple task such as preparing an answer to the city. The lawyer whom I signed with claim that they are a law firm not an individual lawyer so they have the right to do it even it did not disclose about other lawyer in the contract. Is that right?

2) I was also charged with the work of paralegal/legal assistant with the same hourly rate as lawyer. Paralegal charges 1.5 hours for drafting the paper and send to lawyer. Lawyer charges another .5 hour for review and send back to paralegal. Paralegal charge another 1 hour for correction and send back to lawyer for review. Things like that. Is this proper?

3) He claimed that he closely supervised his lawyer. His recent graduated lawyer sent me a settlement offer from city and he did not know about it. When I notify him, he said he agreed with me and aggressively escalate the case. How can he closely supervise his lawyer without knowing the settlement offer his lawyer pass to me?

4) Does lawyer need to keep detail of his work on file? Detail such as detail of call that was charged on invoice, the conclusion of each meeting. I saw none of this in my file.

5) At the sign up meeting, he promised to let me know as soon as the retainer is running out. However, when city offers a settlement, my retainer is already depleted. Instead of telling me that, he encouraged me to escalate the case and did not mention anything about the cost. If I knew then that my retainer is already depleted, I would accept the settlement offer immediately. From the time of his encouragement, my fee is triple. Is this a self served and unethical?

If anyone can point me into the right direction to investigate this issue, I would greatly appreciated. Also, I am looking for opinion as to whether or not I should look for new lawyer. If so, how should I overcome the initial cost associating with retaining new lawyer.

Thank you so much for any input.

 

[Ohiogal]

Background: I am in Houston, TX. I was sue by the city for deed violation. I engaged a lawyer to represent me because I am afraid of the city and the lawyer especially my English is not that good. When I signed up with this lawyer, he sold me on his over 10 years experience and education from a upper law school. Before I sign up, he did not mention that he will have someone other than him work on the case. I had never met any other lawyer in his law firm. We sign up with the goal of negotiating with the city. I paid him a retainer with the verbal agreement that he will let me know before the retainer runs out.

I signed up with him in December 2014. I have a meeting with 2 lawyers from his office. I assume that it is going under his hourly charge because there is not mention about other lawyer's involvement and I don't think my case is so complex that I will need a team of lawyer.I just received my first fee statement in March to find out many things that I did not expect.

1) I was charged for a team of lawyer. Lawyer A just graduate for a few months. Lawyer B just graduates a few years. In the fee statement, I go charge for; Lawyer A reviews the file, Lawyer B reviews the file, Lawyer A consults with Lawyer B. Lawyer B reviews case file with Lawyer A. As a result, my bill is more than double for a simple task such as preparing an answer to the city. The lawyer whom I signed with claim that they are a law firm not an individual lawyer so they have the right to do it even it did not disclose about other lawyer in the contract. Is that right?

2) I was also charged with the work of paralegal/legal assistant with the same hourly rate as lawyer. Paralegal charges 1.5 hours for drafting the paper and send to lawyer. Lawyer charges another .5 hour for review and send back to paralegal. Paralegal charge another 1 hour for correction and send back to lawyer for review. Things like that. Is this proper?

3) He claimed that he closely supervised his lawyer. His recent graduated lawyer sent me a settlement offer from city and he did not know about it. When I notify him, he said he agreed with me and aggressively escalate the case. How can he closely supervise his lawyer without knowing the settlement offer his lawyer pass to me?

4) Does lawyer need to keep detail of his work on file? Detail such as detail of call that was charged on invoice, the conclusion of each meeting. I saw none of this in my file.

5) At the sign up meeting, he promised to let me know as soon as the retainer is running out. However, when city offers a settlement, my retainer is already depleted. Instead of telling me that, he encouraged me to escalate the case and did not mention anything about the cost. If I knew then that my retainer is already depleted, I would accept the settlement offer immediately. From the time of his encouragement, my fee is triple. Is this a self served and unethical?

If anyone can point me into the right direction to investigate this issue, I would greatly appreciated. Also, I am looking for opinion as to whether or not I should look for new lawyer. If so, how should I overcome the initial cost associating with retaining new lawyer.

Thank you so much for any input.

Get out your retainer agreement and read it. He is in a firm. Therefore, as a law FIRM attorney, he can have others work on it unless the retainer agreement limits it. Truthfully, what you should do is read the retainer agreement, schedule a meeting with your attorney and ask questions. Your retainer agreement mentions the cost or should. It doesn't sound like anything was unethical except maybe the rate for the paralegal. And that is iffy.

 

[FRESHJASMINE]

Get out your retainer agreement and read it. He is in a firm. Therefore, as a law FIRM attorney, he can have others work on it unless the retainer agreement limits it. Truthfully, what you should do is read the retainer agreement, schedule a meeting with your attorney and ask questions. Your retainer agreement mentions the cost or should. It doesn't sound like anything was unethical except maybe the rate for the paralegal. And that is iffy.

Thank you for your input. The retainer agreement did not disclose anything about other junior lawyers' involvement. During the time he solicits my business, he has never mentioned any other lawyer. In my opinion, he just want to train other freshly graduated lawyer at my expense. However, he assigns other lawyer with 4 years experiences for fear of malpractice issue.

The reason I said bait and switch is that not only that he never disclosed other lawyer's engagement but also he sold on his experience and background. If he told be from the beginning about this arrangement, I would not sign with him. Some law firm with high power lawyer will assign junior lawyer to work on the case. However, those fact will be disclosed in the retainer agreement and less junior lawyer will be paid at lower rate than high power, more experience lawyer. I guess the key is the disclosure. That is why I call Bait and Switch.

I still don't quite understand the concept of law firm. Nowsaday, most if not all lawyer is a firm or corporation anyway to avoid liability issue, isn't it?

If he is free to appoint as many lawyer as he wishes without disclosure just because he is a law firm, what can stop him? Why stop at only 2 lawyers on a simple case? Why not assign 10 lawyers at the meeting to review and consult my case and deplete my retainer at one setting? Why not assign 5 lawyers instead of 2 lawyers.

I pay for legal advise. I pay for experience. I pay for knowledge. Do you think I will hire him if I know that lawyer who is in charge of my case is only 2 months of law school and has to consult (and charge me) other lawyer for any action.

 

[latigo]

Background: I am in Houston, TX. I was sue by the city for deed violation. I engaged a lawyer to represent me because I am afraid of the city and the lawyer especially my English is not that good. When I signed up with this lawyer, he sold me on his over 10 years experience and education from a upper law school. Before I sign up, he did not mention that he will have someone other than him work on the case. I had never met any other lawyer in his law firm. We sign up with the goal of negotiating with the city. I paid him a retainer with the verbal agreement that he will let me know before the retainer runs out.

I signed up with him in December 2014. I have a meeting with 2 lawyers from his office. I assume that it is going under his hourly charge because there is not mention about other lawyer's involvement and I don't think my case is so complex that I will need a team of lawyer.I just received my first fee statement in March to find out many things that I did not expect.

1) I was charged for a team of lawyer. Lawyer A just graduate for a few months. Lawyer B just graduates a few years. In the fee statement, I go charge for; Lawyer A reviews the file, Lawyer B reviews the file, Lawyer A consults with Lawyer B. Lawyer B reviews case file with Lawyer A. As a result, my bill is more than double for a simple task such as preparing an answer to the city. The lawyer whom I signed with claim that they are a law firm not an individual lawyer so they have the right to do it even it did not disclose about other lawyer in the contract. Is that right?

2) I was also charged with the work of paralegal/legal assistant with the same hourly rate as lawyer. Paralegal charges 1.5 hours for drafting the paper and send to lawyer. Lawyer charges another .5 hour for review and send back to paralegal. Paralegal charge another 1 hour for correction and send back to lawyer for review. Things like that. Is this proper?

3) He claimed that he closely supervised his lawyer. His recent graduated lawyer sent me a settlement offer from city and he did not know about it. When I notify him, he said he agreed with me and aggressively escalate the case. How can he closely supervise his lawyer without knowing the settlement offer his lawyer pass to me?

4) Does lawyer need to keep detail of his work on file? Detail such as detail of call that was charged on invoice, the conclusion of each meeting. I saw none of this in my file.

5) At the sign up meeting, he promised to let me know as soon as the retainer is running out. However, when city offers a settlement, my retainer is already depleted. Instead of telling me that, he encouraged me to escalate the case and did not mention anything about the cost. If I knew then that my retainer is already depleted, I would accept the settlement offer immediately. From the time of his encouragement, my fee is triple. Is this a self served and unethical?

If anyone can point me into the right direction to investigate this issue, I would greatly appreciated. Also, I am looking for opinion as to whether or not I should look for new lawyer. If so, how should I overcome the initial cost associating with retaining new lawyer.

Thank you so much for any input.

Go here to learn your options in challenging what appears to be typical incident of lawyer gouging:

www.texasbar.com/. . . Resolving_Fee_Disagreements/default.htm

 

[FRESHJASMINE]

Go here to learn your options in challenging what appears to be typical incident of lawyer gouging:

www.texasbar.com/. . . Resolving_Fee_Disagreements/default.htm

Thank you Latigo for your information. It is vey helpful. I will look into it. I am seeking opinion from the informed third party as to whether or not I am being unreasonable or I have a valid reason. Not that I want something for nothing or that I don't want to pay lawyer as I promised. I already paid him thousands of dollar and thousand more pending for a case that City already offer to settle. Also, not that now the case is settled to my satisfaction and I regret paying that much money. The case is still pending.

If I have a reason not to trust this lawyer any more, I will change the lawyer. In addition to not disclose this multiple lawyers arrangement, he also charge paralegal for the same rate as lawyer, he also did not send me a statement timely and urged me to go deeper into the process for his benefit. If I had known that his fee will be triple at the time of settlement offered by the city, I would accept the settlement in the heart beat.

 

[quincy]

Thank you Latigo for your information. It is vey helpful. I will look into it. I am seeking opinion from the informed third party as to whether or not I am being unreasonable or I have a valid reason. Not that I want something for nothing or that I don't want to pay lawyer as I promised. I already paid him thousands of dollar and thousand more pending for a case that City already offer to settle. Also, not that now the case is settled to my satisfaction and I regret paying that much money. The case is still pending.

If I have a reason not to trust this lawyer any more, I will change the lawyer. In addition to not disclose this multiple lawyers arrangement, he also charge paralegal for the same rate as lawyer, he also did not send me a statement timely and urged me to go deeper into the process for his benefit. If I had known that his fee will be triple at the time of settlement offered by the city, I would accept the settlement in the heart beat.

The fact that the senior attorney used junior attorneys and paralegals to work on your case is not unusual. In fact, it should be expected that the senior attorney in a law firm will have junior attorneys and paralegals doing work on a case. This is generally to the benefit of the client, who can save money by not paying senior attorney rates for tasks easily done by the junior attorney or paralegal.

That said, charging the same rate of pay for work done by paralegals and junior attorneys that the senior attorney charges for his services is a problem.

As Ohiogal suggested earlier, you should schedule a meeting with the senior attorney to have your questions about the charges addressed by him. The good news is that the invoice you received from the law firm seems detailed. Many are not. Any overcharges should be easy to detect, correct and credit to your account (if, in fact, a review shows there have been overcharges).

For some information on the division of hours expended by senior attorneys, junior attorneys and paralegals to complete tasks on assorted case types (not, unfortunately, for city deed violation cases), here is a link to statistical data compiled by the National Center for State Courts: http://www.ncsc.org/~/media/microsites/files/csp/data pdf/csph_online2.ashx

Do with this information what you will.

Here is a direct link to the Texas State Bar "Resolving Fee Disagreements" link that latigo provided earlier, and you can check your local Bar Association for direction, as well - but, as suggested on the website, you are advised to speak with your attorney first:
Http://www.texasbar.com/Content/NavigationMenu/ForThePublic/ProblemswithanAttorney/Resolving_Fee_Disagreements/default.htm

Good luck.