Nobody Fires Their Lawyer!
by Stuart Gelboar
http://www.ylawyers.com
You try to hire a lawyer who will work best for you when
you need legal assistance. However it often happens that
you hire one who does not work out. The need for a lawyer
arises suddenly, many times, and you do not have the time
to make a thorough search for an attorney. The relationship
between the attorney and the client must be founded on
trust, integrity and shared goals. The client may have no
option but to look for another lawyer when something
happens to break down this trust. In other words, he has to
fire his attorney. This unpleasant experience can be made
worse if a case is ongoing. You have to move on, if the
relationship has eroded to the point where the parties
can no longer work together, but do so with care!
Once the decision has been made to fire your lawyer,the
first thing to do, is to find new legal counsel. Don't put
yourself in the position of firing your lawyer before you
have another one. If you are already involved in an
ongoing court case, this is especially in the case. You
want to make sure you always have legal representation.
If your needs are in some kind of specialization, for
example tax law or estate law or, you have to find an
expert before you can terminate your first attorney.
Once the decision is made, and you have found another
attorney, make sure you put your request in writing and
either hand-deliver it to your lawyer or send it certified
letter. You cannot rely on a verbal confirmation. You will
need to have proof and you need to have an exact day when
the relationship ceased to exist,so that any disputes about
fees or services can be settled fairly. You will use this
termination of services letter as proof.
Be very professional and fo not use any harrassing or
inappropriate language in this letter, no matter how angry
you may be. Do not exaggerate; just state the facts and any
reasons you have for dismissing this lawyer. As much as
is possible, make reference to conversations you had with
the lawyer as they relate to your reasons for termination.
The more proof and documentation you can provide, such
as relevant events, with their dates and times will be a
big help. Document all you can, and confirm delivery.
Especially if your lawyer agreed to any reductions or
waivers, you should document any pre-arranged
agreements regarding fees and payments. Be sure you can
itemize these. As they say, "If it ain't in writing, it
ain't.", so you should make sure that nothing of this was
in the form of a verbal agreement. If it is not written,
you~ll probably be held responsible for the full amount
of any services, even if you made some kind of agreement
with the lawyer outside of your contract or retainer.
Even though the letter will be dated, directly state the
termination date of the lawyer and his or her services.
Often, letters can be written after the fact and, if this
should become an issue, you~ll have covered all of your
bases within the contents of the letter. Don~t be
surprised, though, if you find that it~s not as easy to
fire an attorney as what you might have expected.
Sometimes ~ particularly if you have a pending court case ~
the judge doesn~t allow the termination of legal counsel,
since it might serve to delay the proceedings.
Yes, it is a complex process, but you will eventually be
able to fire a lawyer you are not happy with or who has not
been handling your case to your satisfaction. But if you
been careful throughout the relationship to document all
communication and any problems as they arose, you can make
that process less burdensome for you.
Submit An Article
|
|
|
