 You and your attorney should share a clear
understanding of what you’ve hired your attorney to
do, so that your attorney understands what services you expect
to receive, and so that the meter won’t run on matters beyond
the scope of your attorney’s engagement. I will confirm that we have a clear
and mutual agreement on the scope of the
services that you have engaged me
to provide, by describing the matter in writing in
a mutually signed engagement letter.
You should have advance notice of, and your
attorney should make sure that you have agreed to, the way in
which you are charged for your attorney’s services.
Our engagement letter will describe the hourly billing rate
that will apply to your matter, and I will not raise my rates
without receiving your prior written approval.
Your attorney’s statement for services should be
open-book and transparent, and should follow your billing
guidelines. I will keep track of the time that I
spend on your matter on a real-time basis as my work is
performed, and I will be happy to provide you with a
cumulative total of billed hours and fees accrued on a matter
at any point in time, promptly upon your inquiry. Our
statement for services will include detailed descriptions of
the work I have performed, in increments of one-tenth of an
hour. If you require a particular billing format for your
legal bills, or require separate billing statements for
separate cost centers, our billing statements will follow your
guidelines.
Your attorney’s bill should not include hidden
extra charges, nor should you be charged for overhead or the
administrative costs of your attorney’s law practice.
We do not charge our clients for photocopying expenses for
attorney files, local U.S. mail postage, local telephone or
facsimile expenses, or local travel. We provide clients
outside our area code with our clients-only toll-free
telephone number. Although our clients are requested to
reimburse other long-distance telephone or facsimile charges,
out-of-state postage or overnight courier expense, and
third-party out-of-pocket expenditures (such as filing fees),
those reimbursements are strictly at cost with no markup or
profit add-on. We do not charge our clients for time spent on
preparation of engagement letters, conflict letters, or
billing statements.
You should know whether or not your attorney
carries professional liability insurance that covers the legal
services provided to clients. Our engagement letter
will confirm to you that our practice and my services to you
are covered by professional liability insurance.
Your attorney owes you the utmost duty of
loyalty and confidentiality, without any hidden conflicts of
interest. Before eliciting confidential information
from you about your potential matter, I will confirm that no
conflicts would be presented by my representing you. If I
encounter a conflict of interest, actual or potential, I will
fully disclose it to you, advise you to work with another
attorney if that is in your best interest, or make sure that
your waiver of the conflict is on a fully informed basis. I
will not ask you to waive, in advance, future conflicts on
matters that are unknown to either you or me.
You should receive prompt and responsive
attention from your attorney. I will respond to your
calls within hours (or sooner), not days.
Your priority for getting work product turned
around should be your attorney’s priority. I will
turn around documents within days (or sooner), not weeks.
You should know who your attorney is.
If I am hired as your attorney, you will work with me, not an
inexperienced or unsupervised associate placed on your matter
as a training opportunity, or an attorney from a different
practice area who needs billable work to fill up time.
Your attorney should advise you if you would be
better served by another attorney, when the matter at hand is
outside your attorney’s expertise or when limitations on your
attorney’s time mean that you would not receive the quality of
service that you deserve. I will turn down the
opportunity to work with you, and will recommend that you take
a prospective matter to a different attorney, if the matter is
not within my area of practice, or if I cannot devote the time
that the matter merits, within the timeframe that you require,
to provide the quality of service that you deserve.
Chan Stroman, Attorney at Law and
Principal
Landlord Counsel LLC
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