Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Charges dropped. Do I still have to pay remaining money to attorney?

Even though you did not sign a contract with the attorney, he can still likely recover his fees. A simple and fair way to resolve the dispute is to ask the attorney to account for his hours which equate to the $7,000.

Given that the original charge against your son was a felony, and that it went to pre-trial (I am assuming you mean a preliminary hearing), the attorney probably earned a fee of $7K, and possibly even more.

On another note, your son was facing at least a year in state prison notwithstanding that he was innocent. He certainly would not have been the first person to stand before a DA, judge or criminal defense attorney claiming he was innocent of the crimes charged against him. Moreover, if he was convicted, he would not have been the first innocent person to go to prison. In short, the attorney really did you solid. Why wouldn't you pay him?

Re: Charges dropped. Do I still have to pay remaining money to attorney?

My view is this. If the attorney represented your son at the preliminary hearing, the $7,000 price is probably fair. If there was no prelim, I think he should agree to leaving it at $5,000.

If you cannot settle this, you have the right to go to state bar and arbitrate the fee dispute through them. If there was no written agreement, the bar panel will ask the attorney to account for his time and will award the fees accordingly.

To some of my criminal defense attorney colleagues, I will sound like a traitor. I am saying what I am saying because I have no sympathy for criminal defense lawyers who do not have very clear written contracts with their clients as they KNOW they are supposed to have. I think such practices have sleaze written all over them and give all criminal lawyers a bad name.

Hope this helps.

Jacek W. Lentz, Esq.

310.273.1361

www.lentzlawfirm.com