Many people post questions on the internet on various sites such as AVVO and LawGuru, and we have an opportunity to answer them. A lot of these questions have been posed to our attorneys previously. Here is one recently posted on LawGuru along with my answer:
If I have hired an attorney to handle my car accident case, it’s been 9 months since the accident, and I am not happy with him, if I fire him now do we still have to pay him?
Your attorney has a lien for the amount of time invested in the case times his/her hourly fee. For example, if the attorney has worked 20 hours on your case and regularly charges $250/hour, he will have a lien for $5,000 plus any expenses he has invested in the case.
Of course, you can dispute his hours when he files with the court. Also, some attorneys don’t file liens. I think it would depend on the potential for recovery in the case. If it’s a $10,000 case, he probably won’t. If it’s a $100,000 case, he probably will.
Also, if you hire a new attorney, your new attorney is likely to work something out with your old attorney so it’s not an issue. I’m not suggesting you fire your attorney. You should write your current attorney and let him know what you are thinking, i.e.: if he doesn’t get on the ball and keep you posted in writing, you are going to find someone else. He may have a good explanation for why nothing has been resolved in nine months.
