Vlog: Client Contract Section #8-12
Transcription:
Alright. Part eight is a very important one. How can I fire my lawyer? Usually people are calling me asking how they can fire their old lawyer. But it's important to know what happens if you want to fire your lawyer. The important thing is that you can fire a lawyer at any time. However, if you fire your lawyer, your lawyer can no longer get the percentage. So since the lawyer got fired, the lawyer is not going to win your case for you. So the lawyer can't charge a percentage because they're not going to win the case for you anymore cause they're not your lawyer anymore. But they did work for you. And so what this contract says is it says that I will have an attorney lien for the reasonable value of the services I charged. And a reasonable value for me is 300 bucks an hour. So if I do 10 hours of work, then you fire me and then you hire a different lawyer who gets you a settlement, then I'm going to charge that to your settlement.
However, what it says here again is if no settlement or recovery of money is achieved, then no lien shall be created, and that's my promise. My promise is if you don't get money, I'm not going to charge you anything. It doesn't take a genius to see why the contract says that. What if the client waits until the lawyer is 99% done with the lawsuit and then fires the lawyer and then settles the case on their own with the defendant? You know, the client thinks they're so smart because now they don't have to pay their lawyer, but the defendant is going to give them all the settlement. That's not how it works. The lawyer will place a lien upon your settlement. That's what this contract says. And the defendant will say, look, I legally cannot give you your settlement until you legally satisfy your lien. So that protects the lawyer and it protects the client because you know that the lawyer isn't going to charge you anything unless you win money. So that's how discharge and termination works.
The last two sections in here, section 11, is representation for appeals, writs or collections. What I'm doing is the trial work. I'm a trial lawyer. I'm going to fight and win your trial, but I'm not a collections lawyer and I am also not an appellate lawyer. And so if your case goes to an appeal or needs to go to collections, both of which are very, very rare, you're going to have to hire a different lawyer and I'll help you do that. We'll work it out. But that's going to be a brand new case.
Lastly, all my clients will be giving me power of attorney to sign forms, checks, pleadings, claims, contracts, everything that's necessary for your case. I'm acting as your attorney. You're giving me power of attorney.
So there you have it. Thanks for taking the time to go over my contract with me. I know it's long. I know you probably fell asleep halfway through this video, but it's important and I want to have it online so that all my clients can look at it. Or if you're a prospective client, you can really see what I'm talking about and I have, you know, full transparency here. You can see what's going on. So thank you very much guys. Stay safe during this crazy Corona time. I'll see you back in the office soon. Take care.