ISBA Development Site
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This website is for ISBA staff use only. All visitors should return to the main ISBA website.
Lawyers should carefully consider fee agreements under which they may be required to use part of their court-awarded fees in a class action case to compensate class representatives beyond the amount the court approves for that purpose. Such agreements create a substantial risk that the lawyer is operating under a conflict of interest that cannot be waived, because such a fee agreement places the interests of the lawyer’s client, the class representative, at odds with the interests of absent class members, to whom the lawyer owes fiduciary obligations. In addition, such a fee agreement could, in some circumstances, violate the prohibition on sharing fees with non-lawyers.
A lawyer cannot take an additional amount in legal fees for reducing a lien payment which is above and beyond the percentage of the lawyer’s fees agreed to by the client in the contingency fee agreement with the lawyer.
Absent a narrowly drawn power of attorney, Law Firm cannot negotiate a check on behalf of a missing client and must keep safe any such check.