Our attorney for a real-estate transaction in NJ resigned during attorney review, after having prepared amendments to the purchase contract; but before it was signed (he did not do any further work, e.g. order title search, etc.). He resigned because he said he did not have time to deal with our case. He has now charged us $300 for work he did prior to resignation (his original quote was $850 for the entire transaction). We were forced to find a new attorney, which caused us to waste time, and almost lost the transaction, as the sellers needed to sign the contract within three days of when the original attorney resigned. Are we legally required to pay the $300?
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Residential real estate: lawyer abandonment
- Thread Starter WEA_
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Not an easy question to answer and I definitely couldn't tell you without seeing the retainer agreement. What happened to you is not supposed to happen - especially when the attorney knows that withdrawing could result in significant damage to your case. An attorney is not supposed to resign because he has another client who will pay him/her more money for some other work.
Did the attorney tell you and put in writing that he may need to withdraw from representing you at a certain point? It is difficult to argue that you should be compensed solely due to having to spend time to find an attorney since you would have had to perform this activity if your original attorney declined to take your case. As it seems he may have breached your agreement, you may dispute the amount owed in good faith and compel the attorney to take you to court and request other damages there. It will probably never get there. This might also be deemed a breach of attorney ethics -- you may want to tell/write the attorney that he has a great deal of nerve to leave you cold and in a state of panic during a most important situation, where time was of the essence and he knew that his withdrawal significantly jeopardized the completion of the transaction. If he insists on sending a bill and opening a closing wound, perhaps you might wish to discuss this matter with the Bar Association to determine whether attorneys can simply withdraw in this fashion like he/she did. If the story happens in the manner in which you state you probably won't receive another bill.
Did the attorney tell you and put in writing that he may need to withdraw from representing you at a certain point? It is difficult to argue that you should be compensed solely due to having to spend time to find an attorney since you would have had to perform this activity if your original attorney declined to take your case. As it seems he may have breached your agreement, you may dispute the amount owed in good faith and compel the attorney to take you to court and request other damages there. It will probably never get there. This might also be deemed a breach of attorney ethics -- you may want to tell/write the attorney that he has a great deal of nerve to leave you cold and in a state of panic during a most important situation, where time was of the essence and he knew that his withdrawal significantly jeopardized the completion of the transaction. If he insists on sending a bill and opening a closing wound, perhaps you might wish to discuss this matter with the Bar Association to determine whether attorneys can simply withdraw in this fashion like he/she did. If the story happens in the manner in which you state you probably won't receive another bill.
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