Legal Question in Criminal Law in New York

Attorney Retainer and Bond

a friend of mine recently pleaded guilty to a felony. he was placed on house arrest and had to wear an ankle bracelet for a year. due to good behavior, it was removed. how do we go about having his family members homes released (they were put up a collateral). his attorney has not been helpful. secondly, his attorney was given $25k as a retainer. the case didn't go to trial because my friend took a plea. after the plea, when my friend would contact his attorney to find out when he would be sentenced, the attorney has never return his calls. he e- mails the attorney, leaves messages at his office but to no avail. the attorney finally responded by saying the retainer fee has been exhausted and any further work by the attorney would be for a fee. we do not know how the money was exhausted, the attorney never advised us of this. can't we ask for an itemization of how these fees were exhausted? please advise. the attorney is asking for an additional $1400 to process the release of the homes. how can we pay him this, when we don't even know how the $25,000 was spent.


Asked on 4/10/07, 11:35 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Joel Salinger Law Office of Joel R. Salinger

Re: Attorney Retainer and Bond

You should contact another attorney. I do not think that you are getting a straight answer from your present attorney.

I will state that a felony plea can exhaust a very large retainer since the amount of work necessary to negotiate a plea of that magnitude is substantial. You are entitled to an itemized retainer when teh retainer agreement is for an hourly fee rather than a fixed fee situation.

You should send a written demand for an itemized invoice to the attorney. As for processing the release of the bond, I will need to know if the bonds were done through a bail bondsman or directly with the court.

You can contact me directly through the contact listed on the site or my e-mail address.

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Answered on 4/11/07, 1:01 am


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