I have a lawyer who filed a wrongful death lawsuit on my family's behalf, what should his fee be?.

Your attorney has violated the California Rules of Professional Conduct. Any case worth $1,000.00 or more requires that a written retainer agreement be done between client and attorney. The retainer agreement should set forth in writing the terms of the representation including fees and cost.

I strongly suggest that you give me a call for a free consultation at 800-816-1529 ext. 1. My firm does wrongful death cases all over California.

You can check out my website at www.thepersonalinjury.com

Norm

I find it extremely odd that a lawyer who has experience in wrongful death cases or any other personal injury matter would not know this very simple and basic rule.  An attorney cannot even begin represeting a client without a signed retainer agreement.  He has violated a very important ethical rule of professional conduct.  Are you and your siblings all minors (under 18)?  If so, ultimately the judge will decide how much the fees should be and the usual percentage awarded is 25% of the settlement.  If you are adults, then whatever a retainer agreement would specify.  Are you sure neither of your siblings have signed.  In any event every one of the clients would have to sign.  If he is a good lawyer, and you truly feel he is doing a good job, you may want to bring this to his attention and do not agree to any fee arrangement that would give him more than 40% but 33% if even more preferrable.  Please let me know if I can be of further help.  If you want me to review your file at no charge to you to let you know whether he is actually doing a good job, I'll be happy to do so.

Warmest regards,

Joseph Farzam (888) 999-9394    www.farzamlaw.com