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At Strickler, Platnick & Hatfield, we are committed to ethical practice and offering our clients the highest quality legal representation. As part of our commitment to excellence, we strive for clear and open communication so that our clients will know what to expect from working with our firm. Accordingly, the terms and conditions of an attorney-client relationship with our firm are summarized below.
All attorneys are governed by Rules of Professional Conduct. Those rules require us to treat your communications with us as confidential, with limited exceptions. The requirement of confidentiality is intended to foster open and honest communication and mutual trust between you and your attorneys, which will enable us to provide you with the most effective legal representation. The confidential nature of communications between you and your attorneys is reflected in the attorney-client privilege described below.
Because communications between an attorney and client are confidential, those communications are generally privileged: that is, as a client, you may prevent their disclosure. However, that privilege can be waived, sometimes without your intending to do so. We make a point of discussing these issues, available options, and consequences of waiving the privilege, with every new client.
Our firm will periodically communicate with you through a variety of means, including email, letter, telephone call, video conference, or in-person meetings. As a general rule, these communications will address some aspect of your legal matter, rather than serving as a comprehensive opinion on the matter as a whole. In an effort to keep you fully informed of the progress of your legal matter, we will also periodically transmit to you copies of important documents in your legal matter, which you should keep for reference.
Strickler, Platnick & Hatfield is a law firm. As we provide legal services and counsel, we may, at your request, offer various suggestions or recommendations designed to help achieve your legal goals. However, it is important that you understand the nature and scope of our services and that you do not rely on us for guidance outside of that scope, such as business, technical, or investment advice, unless we agree otherwise in writing.
Strickler, Platnick & Hatfield charges for professional time expended in handling your legal matter. These charges include, but are not limited to, time used in:
Attorney fees are billed in increments of one-tenth of an hour, or six minutes. We always strive to be clear in our communications with you, but if you have questions regarding your bill, please ask us since bills are due upon receipt. You may contest fees that you have been charged in writing within thirty (30) days of the date of the relevant invoice. If you fail to do so, you understand that the invoice is considered to be accepted by you as valid and any objection is waived.
You will be billed for costs incurred on your behalf in your legal matter, in addition to legal fees. You may expect costs to include:
There may be more significant costs associated with our representation in your legal matter, as well. These include fees paid to expert witnesses or costs associated with depositions. You will generally be asked to approve these more significant costs in advance; however, you will remain responsible for these costs even if you did not discuss them prior to being incurred unless you specifically request in writing that we do so. In addition, you may be asked to pay directly to a third party in advance some costs incurred in connection with your legal matter.
Services will be invoiced monthly, with all fees and costs due and payable upon receipt. Any account balance unpaid after thirty (30) days will accrue interest at one percent (1%) per month from the invoice date, equivalent to twelve percent (12%) annually.
In the event it becomes necessary or desirable to submit your invoice to a court for a possible award of attorney’s fees, you will be invoiced for the time spent to prepare the submission to the court and to appear in court in an attempt to recover these fees. Unless otherwise prohibited by law, you agree to assume full responsibility for the fee for legal services, regardless of whether the court grants you an award of fees in part or in full.
You may terminate Strickler, Platnick & Hatfield’s representation of you for any reason upon payment in full of any outstanding balance due to the firm and a written communication requesting the representation to end. Should you terminate the firm’s representation, the firm will forward to you all documents and other property to which you are entitled upon payment in full of your balance due. You agree to pay to the firm in advance its regular rate for reviewing your file and copying and transmitting documents to your subsequent attorney, as well as for any other service you request the firm to provide.
Strickler, Platnick & Hatfield may terminate representation of you for failure to pay any outstanding balance due to the firm, as well as for other circumstances permitted under the Rules of Professional Conduct, with reasonable advance written notice.
You grant the firm a lien on all funds, documents, records, and other items held by the firm. You further acknowledge that the firm has a lien on all causes of action from the time they arose, and on any awards, judgments, or settlements you receive because of services rendered by the firm.
If the firm must take any legal action to collect any balance due under your engagement agreement, you agree to pay for reasonable time incurred by members of the firm at their standard rates and by outside attorneys retained by the firm at their standard rates.
Your case file will be closed upon the conclusion of your legal matter. You agree that the firm may destroy your case file after five (5) years, unless you direct the firm in writing to dispose of the file in another matter and pay the firm in advance for any costs associated with the desired disposition of the case file.
It is possible that the firm may, from time to time, represent a client whose interests are adverse to yours, but we will not undertake any representation that creates a prohibited conflict of interest according to the applicable Rules of Professional Conduct.
In the event a conflict arises that may be waived under the applicable Rules of Professional Conduct, representation is not prohibited by applicable law, and we believe that we can provide appropriate representation to both parties, we may request that you and the other affected party agree to waive the conflict in writing.
Strickler, Platnick & Hatfield does not make any representations or warranties of any kind regarding the accuracy or completeness of any documents prepared by third parties. The firm shall be entitled to rely on information contained in documents prepared by third parties, but shall have no independent obligation to verify such information.
For further information on the terms and conditions of representation by Strickler, Platnick & Hatfield, we invite you to contact our law office to schedule a consultation.
We practice in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
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