Cases: Ethics

Ethics, Retainer Agreements: Attorneys Could Not Keep Unearned Portion Of Fees In Flat Fee Retainer, While Client Could Not Force Disgorgement Of Pre-Withdrawal Fees Earned By Discharged Attorneys

Cases: Ethics, Cases: Retainer Agreements

Rules Of Professional Conduct And Wording Of Retainer Agreement Guided The Result.                Both ex-attorneys and ex-client took draconian positions in a case involving what fees were owed by ex-client under a flat fee retainer agreement involving criminal and divorce proceedings.  Attorneys claimed they were entitled to the whole $350,000 retainer even though they did […]

Ethics, Referral Agreements: Joint Venture Agreement Between Two Firms, Where One Firm Failed To Register As A Professional Law Corporation, Was Not Unenforceable As Against Public Policy

Cases: Ethics, Cases: Referral Agreements

No Clients Were Harmed, So Enforcing The Agreement Was Fine Under The Circumstances.                In Liberty Law Office, Inc. v. The Bloom Firm, Case Nos. A165269 et al. (1st Dist., Div. 1 Mar. 20, 2024) (unpublished; opn. modified and rehearing denied), arbitrators, the lower court, and the appellate court all agreed that a Joint Venture

Ethics, Lodestar, Multipliers: Lower Court Properly Applied A .4 Negative Multiplier To A FEHA Fee Request Based On Plaintiff’s Counsel’s Incivility Throughout The Litigation

Cases: Ethics, Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Multipliers

2/3 DCA Agreed With The Reasoning In Karton.             More and more, we are seeing appellate opinions, whether published or not, stressing the need for civility among attorneys in litigation cases.  In fact, there are proposals being considered which would require that California attorneys, annually, have to reaffirm their oath and to confirm they will

Ethics, Retainer Agreement, Special Fee Shifting Provisions: Although Fee Award Against HOA Belongs To Attorney, Attorney Had To Offset For Contingency Fee Already Received

Cases: Ethics, Cases: Retainer Agreements, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

Attorney Was Liable For Substantial Elder Abuse Fees To Prevailing Elderly Client Based On Failing To Properly Offset And Return Money To Client.             Koehler v. Prinz, Case No. C095229 (3d Dist. Sept. 25, 2023) (unpublished) is a case which shows that attorneys need to be careful when they receive a fee award which belongs

Bankruptcy Efforts, Costs, Ethics: Ninth Circuit Reiterates That Costs Associated With Attorney Disciplinary Proceedings Are Nondischargeable In A Chapter 7 Case

Cases: Bankruptcy Efforts, Cases: Costs, Cases: Ethics

$61,122.27 Was The Tab.             In Kassas v. State Bar of California, No. 21-55900 (9th Cir. Aug. 1, 2022) (published), the Ninth Circuit reiterated that, in line with In re Findley, 593 F.3d 1048 (9th Cir. 2010), the costs associated with a Chapter 7 debtor attorney’s disciplinary proceedings were nondischargeable under § 523(a)(7).

Ethics, Reasonableness Of Fees: 2/8 DCA Justice Wiley Suggests That Ethical Games And Unprofessionalism Will Justify A Fee Recovery Denial Or Reduction

Cases: Ethics, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Case Did Not Involve Fees, But His Lesson Should Be Paid Attention To.             Although the opinion in Field v. U.S. Bank National Association, Case No. B309111 (2d Dist., Div. 8 June 9, 2022) (published) is not an attorney’s fees decision per se, an observation early on in the opinion, authored by Justice Wiley, should

Ethics: Simultaneous Representation Of Corporation And Major Shareholder For Common Goal Not Related To Corporate Mgmt./Control May Not Be A Conflict, But A Dispute Over Corporate Mgmt. Can Create A Conflict Between The Corporation And Major Shareholder

Cases: Ethics

Discussion Occurred When Corporate Attorney Sought To Collect Unpaid Fees.             When a trial court granted and disallowed some unpaid fees by a corporate attorney representing the corporation and major shareholder, separately and together at times, the Fifth District in Cyril Lawrence, Inc. v. K.S. Aviation, Inc., Case No. F079662 (5th Dist. Oct. 26, 2021)

Ethics: 4/3 DCA Justice Fybel Provides Tips For Judges To Avoid Ethical Issues

Cases: Ethics

OCBA ZOOM Meeting On August 5, 2021 Provides Some Nice Guidance.             On August 5, 2021, Justice Richard Fybel provided a symposium for lawyers and judges on how California judges (and lawyers, for the matter) should ethically guide themselves, both in court and out of court, under the California Code/Canon of Ethics.  Here are the

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