17.01. Introduction

“Money, that’s what I want” – the lyrics to a 1959 song encompasses a motivation of lawyers – who look to pay the bills and make a living. This topic addresses both ethical and substantive issues with regard to billing clients and collecting fees. You will see that the overarching test for fees is “reasonableness.”  To determine whether a fee is reasonable the Rule sets out a factor-based test that means, to paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart, there is no bright-line for what is reasonable or unreasonable and “you know [an unreasonable fee] when you see it.” In addition to the fee agreement itself, we will also explore the obligations when lawyers receive property from a client. This is closely tied to the issue of fees because the property lawyers often receive is settlement proceeds – some of which the lawyer has a claim to and some of which goes to the client. The importance of avoiding co-mingling funds that belong to the client with the lawyer’s personal or operating funds is, what the Mississippi Supreme Court has called the “cardinal sin” (Miss. Bar v. Coleman).  

Rounding out this topic we will discuss the traditional lien rights of a lawyer to collect a fee; the prohibition on taking a security interest in a matter; and the ethical limitations on advancing funds to a client.