L
litmtchgrl
Guest
What is the name of your state? California
I retained a lawyer for my divorce on October 30, 2003, just under 4 months ago. In the retainer agreement it stated that the fee for the attorney would be $225/hr and the fee for the legal secretaries would be $100/hr. This has been a very uncomplicated divorce thus far. We have attended court only once, wherein we had come to a mutual agreement regarding custody and visitation prior to our case being heard. We have already divided property, so there is no dispute or anything to be decided with that. The remaining visitation schedule was mutually agreed upon in mediation without any attorneys present. Yet, my lawyer has claimed to have already used the $2500 retainer and has billed me an additional $660, for a grand total of $3080. This seems rather steep to me for how simple things have been. The divorce is not yet over and at the rate I am being charged, this divorce is going to cost even considerably more. In reviewing my bill, it shows that I have been billed the lawyer's rate for everything, with the exception of 6 minutes being billed at the legal secretarie's rate. I know in my dealings with them that the legal secretaries do almost all of the document preparation, which is what most of the billing has been for. I would like to know if the amount that I have been charged thus far seems a little high for such an uncomplicated case and if the lawyer is allowed to charge their rate for work completed by the legal secretaries?
I retained a lawyer for my divorce on October 30, 2003, just under 4 months ago. In the retainer agreement it stated that the fee for the attorney would be $225/hr and the fee for the legal secretaries would be $100/hr. This has been a very uncomplicated divorce thus far. We have attended court only once, wherein we had come to a mutual agreement regarding custody and visitation prior to our case being heard. We have already divided property, so there is no dispute or anything to be decided with that. The remaining visitation schedule was mutually agreed upon in mediation without any attorneys present. Yet, my lawyer has claimed to have already used the $2500 retainer and has billed me an additional $660, for a grand total of $3080. This seems rather steep to me for how simple things have been. The divorce is not yet over and at the rate I am being charged, this divorce is going to cost even considerably more. In reviewing my bill, it shows that I have been billed the lawyer's rate for everything, with the exception of 6 minutes being billed at the legal secretarie's rate. I know in my dealings with them that the legal secretaries do almost all of the document preparation, which is what most of the billing has been for. I would like to know if the amount that I have been charged thus far seems a little high for such an uncomplicated case and if the lawyer is allowed to charge their rate for work completed by the legal secretaries?