What if our lawyer refuse to return the retainer?

Question

My brother was in charge of theft under $5000, it was his first time. my parents hired a lawyer to apply diversion for him. We paid $1500 for retainer

The lawyer said if diversion is approved , she'll return half the retainer which is $750.
she appeared to the court about 7 times for my brother. Last December diversion was approved. In March 7th, was my brother's last court date, cause he has already completed all the community works and stuffs. Our lawyer called the next day , said everything 's done, she'll send the bill.

But till now, we still haven't got her bill. My dad called her twice, she was like, do you think we owe you or you owe us? My dad said we just need to see the bill.

is this normal? is it a normal reques that we need to see the bill?

thanx a lot

Answer 1

I think there is a problem with your understanding of the language. A bill means that she will be asking YOU for more money.

I don't understand how she can tell you in advance that you would be getting money back. She would have to know exactly how many hours it would take to finish the case in court.

Maybe she is going to send you a statement showing the amount of hours she worked, with a rebate if she went under, or a request for more if she went over.

If you had gotten something in writing when you hired her, you wouldn't be in the dark now. Keep calling her. She needs to send you a statement so you can wrap up this affair.

Good luck. I hope your brother will not cause you any more grief or financial hardship.

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Answer 2

okay most retainers are not refundable. That is what it states on the bottom of our contract in the office where I work. But you are saying that she would return 1/2 $750. okay what is her hourly rate? maybe she did not anticipate going to court 7 times, most diversions are done with less in-court appearances and reviews. The Attorney who I work for charges a min. of $200. an hour in court. With A min. of a 1 hour charge, when he has to go to court. He bills $100. an hour out-of-court, that means talking to Juvinile Justice workers trying to plea to see what he can get done, as far as a min for the client. You state that last Dec. diversion was approved, March last court date... while most people do not know all the work and pleadings that go on in a case like this and what goes back and forth between the attorney and Juvenile Workers/ Juvenile Probation, it is a lot of little things phone calls, letters, and such. They usually find out what kind of student and look into his school records. Based on what I have seen your parents got a great deal for only $1,500. I would be shocked if she doesn't send a bill for more. Depending on the office and staff. Most do keep a time log, the attorney I work for does, it covers everthing from postage, phone calls, mileage, even legal assistant fees of $50. If I do anything for a private case. The attornies bill for their time, the time she has spoken with your brother, your parents or any party involved with case can be billed, minutes on phone calls, leaving and returning messages are applied and are broken down and charged, according to what most courts allow.

A lot of our clients request an itemized bill when they no longer want to pay, or pay the debt that they owe.

Most Attorney's are very busy, have your parents make a written request to her office, have her expain if there was some misunderstandings, that they are looking to resolve the conflict. That they would like an itemized billing of the work done, or any money she feels is owed.