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Lawyer's retainer contract?
Hi ladies,
I have spoken to a lawyer and he has quoted me $900.00 for his legal service which would take approximate 3 hrs. He has sent me the contract to sign and sent back to him to sign. However, I think , the retainer contract is open-ended as follows:
"1. The client shall pay the attorney a retainer fee of $900.00 for representation in the following mater. XYZ.
2. The retainer is intended to cover the initial hours of legal services to be rendered by the attorney at the rate set forth below"
The initial hours has not been specified! Is this common?
What if he designates just 1 hr for $900.00 and then charges me additional hourly rate for remaining 2 hrs?
Should I send it back and ask him to specify the initial hrs and then I sign? Please help!
TIA! WR
Re: Lawyer's retainer contract?
Mrs. Kocal, here is the hourly rate
"3.The attorney fee is computed at the rate of $300.00 per hour for all work done by the attorney under this agreement."
Since in section 2 he did not specify the hours, I am concern that he can designate 1 hr for initial hours of service ($900.00) and charge me $600.00 for the remaining 2 hrs. Instead of paying $900.00 I will pay $1500.00.
I feel this is open-ended.
Do you write your contracts like this? Is this common?
should I not worry about that the initial hrs of service has not been specified.
TIA!
WR
First I have to do my disclaimer....I am not rendering legal advice, only offering my opinion....
Ok, I would just ask him to fill in "3" where he says "initial hours". If it says the $900 is for the "initial three hours" then it makes sense that he is billing at the hourly rates he sets forth below ($300/hour). I agree with you that the way it stands leaves it open for him to say the $900 was just a "retainer" fee, and then you need to pay hourly on top of that.