A matter I recently handled for a friend reminded me of what I call the “no-fee fee letter” rule. As with some other ethical and disciplinary rules, procedures and protocols, it’s not written down anywhere, but not complying with it can cause a lawyer problems.
We all know that Connecticut is one of the minority states that requires a written document when a lawyer is going to charge a client a fee. By rule and statute, if the matter involves a contingency fee, the writing must contain information about the statutory fee scheme and be signed by the client. I call those fee “agreements” because that’s what they are: contracts.
