The Attorney's Office Tools


St.Paul & Biddle Medical Associates/ Pacific Rehab


Toll Free: 888-522-8822 410-685-7790


••• CENTRALIZED SCHEDULING •••


• Orthopedics • Physical Therapy • Neurology • Radiology • EMG Nerve Conduction Studies


“ NO FEE FOR COURT TESTIMONY”


Northwest Baltimore/Patterson Ave Northwest Baltimore/Sinclair Ln


Loch Raven/Northern Pkwy Wilkens Ave/St. Agnes


Towson/Lutherville/Timonium Rosedale/Essex/Overlea


Parkville/Carney/White Marsh Catonsville/RT 40 West Randallstown/Lochearn


Dundalk/Edgemere/Sparrows Point Owings Mills/Reisterstown


••• ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY•••


Glen Burnie Annapolis


••• WESTERN MARYLAND ••• Frederick


Hagerstown Cumberland


••• Main Office Downtown Baltimore (at the corner of St. Paul & Biddle streets) ••• ••• HARFORD COUNTY ••• Bel Air


••• BALTIMORE ••• Edgewood/Aberdeen/Havre De Grace


West Baltimore/Garwyn Medical Center South Baltimore/Cherry Hill Highlandtown/Eastern Ave


••• HOWARD COUNTY ••• Columbia


••• CARROL COUNTY ••• Westminster


••• PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY •••


Laurel/Jessup Temple Hills


••• MONTGOMERY COUNTY ••• Silver Spring/Wheaton


••• EASTERN SHORE ••• Salisbury


Cambridge


Quality Healthcare providers specializing in the treatment of patients injured in automobile accidents and on the job since the 1980’s.


res judicata or collateral estoppel."3 Further, if the retainer


agreement contains a provision that all disputes arising out of the attorney-client relationship (including malpractice) would be submitted to mandatory arbitration, then the client must be represented by independent counsel in connection with that written agreement.4 To provide an incentive for clients to timely pay your fees


and to allow you to ask the court for pre-judgment interest and a contractual post-judgment interest rate higher than


the judgment rate of interest that your state law provides, 5


have the retainer agreement state that a finance charge in the


form of an interest rate will apply to outstanding balances.6 In addition, the retainer agreement should provide that the client is responsible for any attorney’s fees and costs that you may incur in the event that you have to collect your bill. My suggestion is that this attorney’s fees provision should clearly state the percentage of the amount due as the agreed-upon reasonable attorney’s fees.7


Based on my experiences, if your


3 See Ethics Docket 94-40 of Committee on Ethics of Maryland State Bar Association Inc. 4 Ethics Docket 90-12 of Committee on Ethics of Maryland State Bar Association, Inc. Tis Ethics opinion specifically states that "If the client refuses to seek independent counsel, then the lawyer is prohibited from entering into such a written agreement" [i.e., an agreement that has a provision requiring arbitration of all disputes arising from the attorney-client relationship].


5 In Maryland, the judgment rate of interest is ten percent (10%) per annum (Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article §11-107).


6 Pursuant to Maryland Commercial Law Code, Section 14-1315(f), you may charge an interest rate of 1.5% per month, compounded monthly, on any amount that is more than fifteen days outstanding. Tis notice of the late charge must be in at least 10-point bold-faced type.


7 You are entitled to attorney’s fees if you hire an attorney other than yourself and your retainer agreement provides for attorney’s fees in the event you have to file suit to collect your fees. In Maryland, if you, the attorney, are representing yourself in court, then you will not be awarded any attorney’s fees. See Weiner v. Swales, 217 Md 123 141 A.2d 749 (1958).


50 Trial Reporter / Spring 2010


••• CHARLES COUNTY ••• Waldorf/Southern Maryland


retainer agreement is silent as to the definition of "reasonable attorney’s fees," then it is possible that your attorney could receive an attorney’s fees award as low as fifteen percent (15%) of your request in Maryland. (For an example of provisions relating to "evergreen retainers," interest on outstanding balances, and attorney’s fees provisions, see the Maryland- appropriate Retainer Agreement provided at the end of this article. pg 54-55.)


Billing Your Clients To successfully bill your clients, you must bill on a


periodic schedule so that clients know when to expect your bill (preferably once a month and early in the month), and you must bill accurately. Te first step in achieving these goals is to invest in a good billing software program. Te cost of the software program will quickly be offset by the time you save and by the increase in your receipts that you will soon garner. Be sure to keep track of your time on a daily basis, and


at the end of each day review your timesheets, looking for cases and tasks that you may have missed. At the beginning of each day in the office, place your timesheets in the same place, preferably near your phone, or open your computerized billing program, before you do anything else. Also, carry paper timesheets with you everywhere, so that you do not lose any time or forget any court appearances, meetings, other tasks and errands that you do outside of the office. You WILL lose billable hours if you try to recapture your time later. You should record all of your time, even on contingency and flat fee cases, so that you can justify your fee should that ever become an issue.8 Detailed bills encourage clients to pay. If you are doing


legal research or writing a document, then describe clearly and precisely the task or the subject matter. If you are in a meeting, then list the persons or entities at the meeting. However, be careful not to divulge any privileged information in your bills, in case you need to submit your bills as an exhibit to a request for attorney’s fees in the underlying case, or in the event you need to sue for payment. Omitting privileged information from the beginning reduces the possibility of failing to adequately redact privileged information in your rush to produce a copy of your bills at collections time or when submitting a petition for attorney’s fees with itemized statements. Use your billing methods as a way to extend good will.


Even if you do not want to charge for some of your time on a case (such as when you’re spending time with new personnel or researching a basic matter that should already be known by


8 Further, the tracking of your time in your flat fee and contingency fee cases allows you to accurately assess the profitability of those cases; and also assist you in the setting of future flat fees, and the decision of whether to take on particular types of cases on a contingency or flat fee basis.


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