if a lawyer has been paid prior to charges being filed, and charges are never filed, is the client eligable to receive the balance paid back to him
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i was arrested for dui ,3rd, on may 2. i have repeatedly called my lawyer to question what is going on, he told me that if he hears anything he will call me. it has been 4 months. and as far as i know no charges have been filed with the state of missouri. also i have checked casenet.gov and it shows no charges against me. so i know the lawyer has not been responsible for the charges being dropped. As far as the agreement, i need to get a copy from them to see what it says. but he has made no effort to tell me what is goin on. he just told me that if i receive a letter in the mail from the state to let him know. i have paid him $2500 out of $3500 per the agreement but he has not told me anything or attemped to contact me without my calling his office
Thank you for your reply. I appreciate your patience as I was assisting another customer.The first thing I would do is review your agreement. If you don't have a copy of it, call his office. You don't need to speak to the lawyer directly for that, his secretary or receptionist should be able to mail it out to you.It sounds like however, you believe the lawyer has done no work on the case. Rules of Professional Conduct require that a lawyer charge a reasonable fee for their services. While $3,500 is reasonable for a DUI charge, it is not reasonable (in my opinion) if the lawyer does nothing more on the case but file his appearance.Should the matter be dismissed, I would first have a frank discussion with your lawyer about their fee and see if you can come to an agreement on the money. If that is not successful, the Missouri Bar Association does run a free fee dispute resolution program to assist clients who are having disputes with their lawyers over the fee paid.You can read more about the program here.
thank you for your help, i feel better about my situation
You're very welcome. I hope it all works out for you.