I want to know if I am entitled to a refund of a “non-refundable” attorney fee?

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I want to know if I am entitled to a refund of a “non-refundable” attorney fee?

I believed that criminal charges against me were going to be filed and I hired an attorney. He charged me $2,500 and the fee agreement states that it is non-refundable. The charges were not and will not be filed and other than a few conversations with the district attorney; my attorney did nothing on my behalf.

Asked on March 18, 2012 under Criminal Law, Pennsylvania

Answers:

Kevin Bessant / Law Office of Kevin Bessant & Associates

Answered 12 years ago | Contributor

A refund of any "unearned" fee is going to be determined by the language of your attorney's fee agreement and the local rules of your state bar. In Criminal law, attorney's are allowed to have a non-refundable retainer fee, but that fee must be earned, meaning they did some form of sustainable work to justify the fee. Not certain what your attorney did or did not do to have the charges dropped, but I would contact your attorney to determine exactly what work was performed on their part to justify the fee.  


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