Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Pennsylvania

Re: Nonrefundable Nonrepresentation

You raise an interesting question. "Can" an attorney charge a non-refundable retainer? Yes, he can. But that begs the question. The real issue, when these type of disputes arise, is whether the contract between the attorney and client provides for a nonrefundable retainer and whether the attorney has earned that fee.

A retainer does not just represent the time or actions which an attorney may take. It also means that he accepts the duties of an attorney, and will be prevented from accepting any conflicting cases in the future.

You make analogy to a contractor: a building contract requires payment for the job to be done. If the attorney contract required him to complete certain tasks, and the attorney did not, then the retainer wouldn't be earned. But if the client changed his mind, then the attorney might not be obligated to refund the money. To extend your analogy, if you call an electrician, he shows up at your door, you go to show him the panel box and notice that a breaker was tripped, he's still entitled to charge for the service call even if he didn't do any work.

You touched on the key when you asked, "Shouldn't a fee agreement be upheld the same as any other type of legal contract?" Surely it should. The issue is to find out exactly what the terms of the fee agreement are.

In a recent case here in the Philadelphia area, an asbestos defendant hired a law firm to defend all its cases for a flat million dollar fee which, in the written contract, was non-refudnable. The client fired the law firm after disagreements over strategy, sued for a refund, and lost.

So the answer to your specific question depends on exactly what the fee agreement said, and the circumstances of the withdrawal. I can't evaluate those issues. You'll need to review those matters with your own attorney (another one, obviously).