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Cardozo Law Review

Abstract

Part I of this Note reviews various attorney-client fee arrangements, with particular attention to forms of retainers. Part II traces the development of the rule banning nonrefundable retainers and of the so-called general retainer exception to this rule. Part III examines the general retainer first in terms of its two conventional but conflicting views-as an ordinary business agreement versus an attorney-client contract-and then pursues a deeper historical and descriptive examination of the device than is reflected in either conventional view. Because that examination leads to the conclusion that general retainers are attorney-client agreements, part IV scrutinizes them as such and demonstrates how the reasoning that justifies the ban against nonrefundable retainers applies equally to the general retainer. Accordingly, this Note concludes that the general retainer is indistinct from nonrefundable retainers, and therefore, the general retainer exception to the ban against nonrefundable retainers should be abandoned.

Keywords

Money, Professional Ethics in Law, Legal Profession

Disciplines

Law | Legal Profession

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