What Happens In Case Of Fee Disputes?


         You just received the bill from your lawyer. But you cannot understand it and the total due is really more than what you expected. You may already think that your lawyer cheated on you and be ready to complain about him. Before heading to the Disciplinary Counsel, you should first check your fee agreement.

          If you did not do it before, it is now essential to read thoroughly through your fee agreement to make sure you understand how you agreed your lawyer would bill you. You should pay attention about the frequency of the charges, whether you have been billed for faxes and copying, at what rate you have been billed for paralegal and assistant work, and whether other lawyers have worked on your case, and if so, how much you have been charged per hour for their services
You can ask your lawyer an accounting bill if you still do not understand your bill or if it is not very detailed. The accounting bill is a detailed description of the services your lawyer provided to you and for which you are being billed. If your lawyer is billing on an hourly basis, the bill should detail, hour by hour, what the lawyer did. Many lawyers bill in six-minute increments, so the bill should be detailed.

          However, if you still have the feeling that your bill is unfair after getting a detailed accounting of your lawyer’s services and carefully reading your fee agreement, you should discuss it directly with your lawyer. If you communicate your confusion or frustration, your lawyer may realize he did not communicate properly about how the billing would be done, he may have double-billed for the same services, or accidentally billed for time that was spent on errors made by the lawyer.

          At this point, if your lawyer did not give enough explanation about the bill and he really cheated on his bill, you can take the fee dispute to the court. But Before doing this, you should give a try to mediation or arbitration through your local bar association. Your dispute can be resolved faster and more efficiently than through a lawsuit. And it is often cheaper and less stressful than going to court.

          If mediation and arbitration are not successful, the fee dispute will be taken to the court. You have to be prepared to support your position with documentation such as witnesses, correspondence from your lawyer and any other documents that may help your case. If you lawyer has stolen money from you, you must immediately report the incident to your state bar association.