Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Law Of Criminal Defense

Criminal Law

: Law Of Criminal Defense

MN adds flat fees to Rule 1.5, effective 7/1/11

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Minnesota has amended Rule 1.5 to permit flat fees in certain circumstances. Added to Rule 1.5 is the following, effective July 1, 2011: Except as provided below, fee payments received by a lawyer before legal services have been rendered are presumed to be unearned and shall be held in a trust account pursuant to Rule 1.15. (1) A lawyer may charge a flat fee for specified leg- al services, which constitutes complete payment for those services and may be paid in whole or in part in advance of the lawyer providing the services. If agreed to in advance in a written fee agreement signed by the client, a flat fee shall be considered to be the lawyer's property upon payment of the fee, subject to refund as described in Rule 1.5(b)(3). Such a written fee agreement shall notifv the client: (i) of the nature and scope of the services to be provided; (ii) of the total amount of the fee and the terms of payment; {iii) that the fee will not be held in a trust account until earned; (iv) that the client has the right to terminate the client-lawyer relationship; and (v) that the client will be entitled to a refund of all or a portion of the fee if the agreed-upon legal services are not provided...continue to full post

Full post as published by Law Of Criminal Defense on December 29, 2010 (boomark / email).