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Marking Up: When Can You Do It, And How?
May 20, 2015Texas Ethics Opinion No. 577, issued in March 2007 and published in the October 2007 Texas Bar Journal, addresses when and how a law firm can charge a client more for an attorney’s services than it pays the attorney. The opinion notes that Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 1.04(f) Read the full post
The Importance of Fee Issues
May 20, 2015Percentage of Americans who agree that lawyers are more interested in making money than in serving their clients: 69% Public Perception of Lawyers: Consumer Research Findings, Section of Litigation, American Bar Association 2002, p. 7, available online at http://www.abanet.org/litigation/lawyers/publicperceptions.pdf. THE IMPORTANCE OF FEE ISSUES Fee issues are commonly intertwined with legal Read the full post
Recent Texas Ethics Opinions On Contingent Fees, Non-Refundable Retainers
May 20, 2015By Jett Hanna Two recent Texas Ethics Opinions from the Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas may change how lawyers structure contingent fee agreements and non-refundable retainers. In Opinion 610, the opinion committee determined that it is unethical for lawyers to retain a security interest in a Read the full post
Contingent Fee Case: What to do if the client suggests that a lawyer should reduce the fee because of legal malpractice
January 28, 2015An article on this subject in the Wisconsin Law Journal advises lawyers not to seek a release of malpractice liability from the client when disbursing the settlement if the fee is reduced. Texas ethics rules are very similar to Wisconsin on this issue. Texas Ethics Opinion 557 addresses the conflicts Read the full post