Question:
I asked a lawyer to represent me, in dealing with a landlord who I expected would unethically withhold a security deposit.
We did not agree on price at the time. The lawyer went on to hire a friend to conduct the walkthrough with the landlord and also charged for their own time as well.
The landlord went on to withhold money. I emailed the lawyer two times to follow-up with the landlord and also to get their ideas on best way to deal with the problem. Both times, my email was ignored.
In the meantime, they haven't followed up about payment either.
I want to treat them fairly, yet I also feel that their inattentiveness, unresponsiveness, and choice to hire a third party were unwise and led to their engagement being more expensive than it should have been. Nor did they achieve a satisfactory outcome. Most importantly -- by not following up with the landlord promptly, they lost momentum and an unofficial (or official?) statue of limitations on pursuing the deposit.
On the one hand, I want to follow-up and pay the money that was verbally agreed upon. On the other hand, I feel like the lawyer stopped a reasonable pursuit of the matter prematurely and this was to my detriment. I've followed up with them and haven't heard back.
Should I aggressively pursue the lawyer in order to pay him the amount he had asked for, and that I did not deny, in verbal conversations in the midst of the work? Can I "sit back" and assume that i've done enough to try to get his attention and that it's on him to follow-up with me for payment (he hasn't asked)?
Answer:
Hello,
If the lawyers didn’t do the job they were hired to do, you do not have to pay them. You can wait until they contact you, to ask for payment, and then you can ask them why they didn’t finish their job.
Best wishes
