Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Maryland

There is no specific answer to your question, but you have an absolute right to a return of your file, except for work product that the attorney may have produced. As for your retainer, the lawyer would be entitled to be paid for any services they have performed, and should return any balance to you. I suggest you attempt to make an appointment to go to the lawyer's office and retrieve your papers. If the lawyer refuses to cooperate, you can file a complaint with the Attorney Grievance Commission of the Maryland State Bar Association.

First look at your representation agreement. Although the law doesn't fix a time to return a retainer if the attorney said it would be returned within X days you have a right to insist that any unused portion be returned within that time frame.

It may take a month after representation ends for a law firm to get out the final month's billing and figure out what balance is left after deducting for final bills and expenses. If more than one billing cycle has passed since the representation ended (assuming all expenses are fully known) and you've clearly asked for the balance back, failing to return the retainer may be cause for concern.

As far as your file goes, the right to get the papers depends on what you're seeking. You can always get back your own papers that you turned over to the firm. If the lawyer charged to prepare documents and representation ended before this was fully paid, the lawyer can legally keep whatever they prepared. I concur with the other attorney poster - try to set up a time to go into the office and retrieve your file.