Divorce Attorney Legal Services Agreements

A legal services agreement is generally a contract that explains the terms of the lawyer-client relationship, such that it defines the contractual relationship further. Legal services agreements come in all sorts of different lengths. Some are one legal page, and others can approach ten pages or more. Moreover, they can contain a huge amount of information on the exact terms of the lawyer-client relationship, in ways that can protect both the lawyer and the client.

For a divorce attorney, there are a number of things that can be useful to include in this contract. The most important thing, however, is that the agreement comply with all applicable local rules that govern such agreements. Complying with this should not be taken lightly, as your state and/or local bar association may discipline you for failing to comply with their rules.

There are a lot of standard paragraphs to these types of agreements, such as where and how a dispute regarding a fee will be litigated, etc. This article is focusing more on the individual elements that could be considered particular to practice as a divorce attorney. One really helpful clause is the ability to charge a flat rate for all costs associated with a file’s management. These types of costs include photocopying expenses, stamps, folders, telephone charges. There will be times that you may lose money on this, but there may be other times when the flat rate exceeds the number of charges that you incurred. One of the primary benefits of this is that it prevents you from having to keep track of the cost of every envelope, piece of paper, etc., document how much a particular client consumed, and then bill (all of this can be a time consuming process that can distract from your practice of law).

Here are a couple of other areas that could be helpful. It could be important (if your local bar association allows for it) to have a clause that allows the divorce attorney to scan the client’s file and store it electronically, instead of keeping a hard copy. Beyond this, if you are not comfortable dividing pensions and 401ks, it may also be possible for you to limit your legal representation for these matters. One other area that can be normal to exclude from your legal representation is with tax advice. (Family law can have a lot of tax implications, especially with regard to child support vs. spousal support and property divisions.) Another could also be to limit the representation to with regard to appellate work. (Many lawyers who do not focus just on this will refer it to other lawyers who do.)

Ultimately, you should probably make sure to think through your legal services agreement so that you can focus fully on representing your client as their divorce attorney.

The above material is intended for information purposes only. It is not intended as professional legal advice and should not be construed as such. Will Beaumont practices law in New Orleans, LA, and Metairie, LA.