Legal Question in Legal Ethics in California
Disability law/lawyers
I had retained the services of a Disability lawyer after my first SSI claim was rejected to help me with my appeal. Well, all they have done is give me advice on which papers I need to file and when I need to do it and whatnot, then on 11/30/07, I was approved after a year long battle. SSI claimed that they made the decision solely based on the additional paperwork that they requested me to fill out and that they requested my Doctor fill out. SSI claims they didn't receive any paperwork or Motion from my lawyer's office until AFTER the judge had made his decision. Now the Law office hounding me for a copy of my letter so they can get ''their portion'' of it. Since they didn't do anything til after the fact, do I owe them anything?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Disability law/lawyers
This is difficult to answer, as many of the things lawyers do for clients are "behind the scenes", and I can't even begin to guess what would be proper.
An attorney specializing in SSI law is limited in fees to a percentage of the recovery from Social Security. Based on your statement above, you should put your entire dispute in writing.
The State Bar maintains a fee disputes committee and you could likely end up there.
Write the attorney (keep a copy) by certified mail (return receipt requested), and tell the law office the reasons you object to a fee. Give them 7 days to respond.
If you cannot reach a satisfactory conclusion, go to the State Bar Fee Disputes Arbitration. I am enclosing information on this from the State Bar website.
http://calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_generic.jsp?cid=10428&id=1325
Please feel free to e-mail my office, or call, if you need more help.
Good luck!
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