Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New Jersey

Can I fire my lawyer??

You can fire your lawyer at any time and for any reason or for no reason at all. The lawyer is obligated thereafter to stop work on your behalf and, if you ask, to provide you with the evidence and documents he has. The lawyer can retain a copy and charge you a reasonable fee to make it.

The lawyer is still entitled to a fee for the work that was done up to the time that he or she is discharged. In a contingent fee case, the lawyer may have a continuing interest in the amounts collected and may still be entitled to the contracted percentage.

In a case involving a trial, the lawyer's obligation to the client customarily ends on conclusion of the trial and the expiration of the time allowed for filing post-trial motions. There is generally no obligation for the lawyer to pursue an appeal nor to engage in collection efforts. In a contingent fee case, however, the lawyer will usually want to help with collection since the fee is based on its success. This is the customary rule and can be varied by agreement with the client. A written agreement is required in contingent fee matters under the New Jersey rules of court.

In the end, if you feel that the fee charged by your lawyer is inappropriate for the work done, you have several alternatives:

(1) You can apply to the same court that heard your case to have the fee reduced. In making his decision, you can expect the judge to give great weight to the agreement and the work performed. The results achieved will have much less weight unless they were extraordinarily good or bad. Lawyers do not and cannot guarantee results in disputed matters. Since you have had to work hard to find your missing defendant, you can understand why. You won your case which is what the lawyer was hired to do. You will have to show some exceptional circumstance to convince the court that it should not follow the agreement that you had with your lawyer.

(2) A better and faster option is to file for fee arbitration with the Secretary of the Fee Arbitration Committee in your District. For District II (Bergen County) this is Morton R. Covitz, Esq. You can call him at 201-336-6981. You should not be concerned that the arbitration panel consists of lawyers. The member or members of the panel are not randomly selected. They are chosen from volunteers who are experienced in the profession and familiar with the legal service contracts and the rules of court. They are frequently harder on lawyers than a judge would be.

(3) Before you do either of the above, you may want to write to your lawyer to see if he will consent to take a smaller percentage.

If you do engage another lawyer, be sure to disclose the possiblity of a prior fee claim. That will prevent confusion when it it time to divide whatever is collected.