What to do about unresponsive lawyer holding retainer

[protagonist]

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

A relative is going through a divorce. She has a legal separation agreement worked out years ago and signed by a judge. She just needs to get the divorce finalized. She is a US citizen residing in NY state. Her husband is overseas, not a US citizen, and not cooperative.

She hired a recommended NY attorney in October to finalize the divorce, and the attorney told her it should be simple. The attorney charges $400/hr. She gave the attorney a $5000. retainer nine months ago.

According to her, since then the attorney has done very little and is mostly unresponsive to her phone calls and emails. He has not provided her with any written accounting of fees. My impression is that at the very least the lawyer has been lax and lazy regarding her case.

She also googled the attorney and he apparently has a malpractice judgment against him that he is appealing....I forget the details but I think it involved a client losing money and holding him responsible.

She is reticent to leave the attorney since he has already done some work and she does not want to start over, but she is also very frustrated by the lack of progress and lack of communication. She needs to move forward with the divorce.

My questions:
1. Is an attorney that is holding a retainer obligated to provide clients with a detailed accounting at any given interval?
2. Do you have any recommendations as to how my relative should proceed in dealing with this?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ohiogal]

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

A relative is going through a divorce. She has a legal separation agreement worked out years ago and signed by a judge. She just needs to get the divorce finalized. She is a US citizen residing in NY state. Her husband is overseas, not a US citizen, and not cooperative.

She hired a recommended NY attorney in October to finalize the divorce, and the attorney told her it should be simple. The attorney charges $400/hr. She gave the attorney a $5000. retainer nine months ago.

According to her, since then the attorney has done very little and is mostly unresponsive to her phone calls and emails. He has not provided her with any written accounting of fees. My impression is that at the very least the lawyer has been lax and lazy regarding her case.

She also googled the attorney and he apparently has a malpractice judgment against him that he is appealing....I forget the details but I think it involved a client losing money and holding him responsible.

She is reticent to leave the attorney since he has already done some work and she does not want to start over, but she is also very frustrated by the lack of progress and lack of communication. She needs to move forward with the divorce.

My questions:
1. Is an attorney that is holding a retainer obligated to provide clients with a detailed accounting at any given interval?
2. Do you have any recommendations as to how my relative should proceed in dealing with this?

Thanks in advance.

Why can't your relative post here for herself?

 

[HighwayMan]

You dealing with this for your relative is not very helpful since you are getting information second-hand.

That having been said, yes in New York an attorney must provide a billing statement a minimum of every 60 days (if I remember correctly). Most conscientious attorneys will bill their clients monthly. Failure to provide billing as required may allow you to get a refund of any fees actually charged. Contact your local bar association and request information on filing a complaint.

Your relative needs to notify the attorney in writing that he should stop all work on her case, that she wishes to terminate his services and to request a refund of the retainer.

 

[protagonist]

That having been said, yes in New York an attorney must provide a billing statement a minimum of every 60 days (if I remember correctly). Most conscientious attorneys will bill their clients monthly. Failure to provide billing as required may allow you to get a refund of any fees actually charged. Contact your local bar association and request information on filing a complaint.

Your relative needs to notify the attorney in writing that he should stop all work on her case, that she wishes to terminate his services and to request a refund of the retainer.

Thank you, HighwayMan. That is helpful. Do you know where I can find that periodic billing statement requirement for NY? I googled it and came up empty-handed. If I could find a reference for her it would be very helpful.

The most I could find was this: "You are entitled to be charged reasonable fees and expenses and to have your lawyer explain before or within a reasonable time after commencement of the representation how the fees and expenses will be computed and the manner and frequency of billing. You are entitled to request and receive a written itemized bill from your attorney at reasonable intervals." I don't think she has requested a bill to date.

Yes, of course she can post for herself, but she came to me seeking advice and I told her that I was not qualified to answer her questions but I would try to obtain answers . I am more adept at finding out things online. I will refer her to this thread if she cares to enroll and participate.

 

[HighwayMan]

I don't have time to look it up now, but look at:

http://legalease.blogs.com/legal_ease_blog/2009/05/ny-judge-rules-matrimonial-lawyer-forfeits-fees-since-bills-were-not-timely.html


A friend of mine is going through a long divorce and is on his fourth attorney - he made a complaint against the last one he had and was refunded about $5k in fees because his attorney wasn't sending him bills. While billing is usually specified in the retainer agreement, a client should not have to ask to be billed - my girlfriend is a divorce attorney in NY and has never heard of such a thing.