refund of retainer's fee

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?New Jersey

Hi,

My question is regarding asking for my retainer's fee as well as any remaining balance to be refunded.

I retained an attorney to handle my foreclosure and signed a retainer's agreement. We paid 5k and $700. every month. We hired him on hired and sign the agreement on August 8, 2010. He has not filed a single paper and has not even filed a substitution of attorney.

We receive an invoiced from him in September but the following month and to this day we have not received any invoice nor any kind of written correspondent to keep us inform of his work or services.

We are not satisfied with his lack of performance and responses. The last draw was when I got worried and personally called my previous law firm and they informed me that they have not received the substitution letter as requested by them in September so that the proper procedure can be taken to notified the plaintiff of the substitution as well as the court.

So, so far he has not done so. I sent him a letter for his dismissal of services and for a refund of our retainer and full account for the services he can charge based on his actual work on our case.

What is the normal and proper way to settle this matter? What is a standard or procedure that an attorney can charge for their services when he has done very little to show for?

Do attorney keep a daily journal or log for their expenses and work to justify their fee? Are they accountable for estimate of expenses and must show why they deserve the fees?

Thank you,

Yes, they should send you a check for the balance & should have been sending you bills every month.

He did not even file an appearance? That's not right.

Who is your current attny of record? How do you know if any documents were filed with him? Or in court?

If I were you, I would file a pro se appearance ... notice to other attnys involved would be needed if you intend on replacing your current attny on record. Go to the courthouse and check the practice rules (I am not familiar w/NJ rules) to see how to go about doing this.

It would be a civil case to get your $$ back. NJ has 3K allowed in small claims so you may need to file a standard civil suit to get your money back; assuming the attny does not give you any money back.

If he gives you some of your money back but not what you think is enough and its under 3K, then small claims court ...

Right now, you have an attny on record? Did your first one withdraw?

I called my first law firm and told them not to accept the substitution letter that my current attorney is planning to do since it's 5 months too late.

The former law firm hasn't notified the plaintiff party of the new counsel because they never received the signed letter. I called them and made sure that any document they receive from the plaintiff would be immediately notified to me.

I have send him a termination of service letter to him, and notified him that we will come by to pick up our case file and request that he set up time next week.

We now need to find a new counsel and see what our options are.

Based on what my attorney's been paid and having not file a single paper as well as only meeting with us one time for less than an hour, how much can he charge us? Besides the $700. every month that we've been paying, can he keep our retainer's fee? doesn't he have to justify how or what he did to use the funds from the retainer?

zanzy said:

I called my first law firm and told them not to accept the substitution letter that my current attorney is planning to do since it's 5 months too late.

The former law firm hasn't notified the plaintiff party of the new counsel because they never received the signed letter. I called them and made sure that any document they receive from the plaintiff would be immediately notified to me.

I have send him a termination of service letter to him, and notified him that we will come by to pick up our case file and request that he set up time next week.

We now need to find a new counsel and see what our options are.

Based on what my attorney's been paid and having not file a single paper as well as only meeting with us one time for less than an hour, how much can he charge us? Besides the $700. every month that we've been paying, can he keep our retainer's fee? doesn't he have to justify how or what he did to use the funds from the retainer?

Click to expand...

READ the contract you signed.