1899
|
| Clients and their lawyers can agree on a reasonable “conversion clause” indicating how the lawyer will be compensated if the client terminates a fixed fee agreement without cause (rather than relying just on a quantum meruit process that requires a terminated lawyer’s legal action against the former client). Unlike the scenario with “conversion clauses” in contingent fee arrangements, the fixed fee setting has no expected recovery, and a “conversion clause” cannot result in the lawyer receiving more than the fixed fee itself. As long as the arrangement is reasonable and fully explained to the client, such a “conversion clause” might use “benchmarks” based on the “amount of work” done at certain stages of a fixed fee representation. |