Before hiring an Illinois lawyer, you should always have an honest and direct discussion about how you will be paid. An attorney’s billing method, as well as fees, depend on the amount of time spent working on your case, as well as the nature of your legal problem and the attorney’s reputation and experience. Rate types are hourly, a flat rate, or a contingency basis.
A retainer fee is a certain amount of money that you pay up front and up front to a lawyer. The lawyer puts that money in a special trust account and deducts the cost of services from that account as they accumulate.
This type of fee is generally used when a legal bill is high and the lawyer needs to do ongoing work. Common practice areas that use retainer fees are family law and criminal law, although many other hourly cases use them as well. Basically, a retainer fee works like a debit card. You pay an amount up front and the lawyer takes that money when he does the job. For example, if you give a lawyer $2,500.00 and he charges $250.00 per hour, you have paid in advance for 10 hours of his time. Usually, after you work enough hours to pay the withholding fee, they will ask you for more money. Advance fees are usually refundable. In other words, if you fire your attorney or the case ends, any money that hasn’t been billed must be returned to you.
Be sure to ask lots of questions and read the written agreement you have with your lawyer so that you understand exactly what its terms are. For example, the attorney may add interest or other fees to unpaid amounts in the future. Similarly, if you decide to drop a case your attorney has worked on before you have exhausted the retainer fee, you may lose any remainder. If your matter needs to go to court, additional fees may also be required.
Also, I recommend that you ask your lawyer to provide you with a monthly statement of the work you do. We’ve seen too many cases where a client doesn’t talk about the work their lawyer is billing for many months and then one day they get a call or email saying the retainer is gone and the client has to pay a few thousand. any more or the Illinois attorney they retained will withdraw from the case. By getting a monthly invoice, you can stay on top of the work your attorney is doing and keep track of how much their work is costing you.
No matter how you choose to compensate an attorney, we cannot stress enough that you should get any agreement you have with them in writing.