united-states criminal-law lawyer federal-courts attorney-fees
Is an attorney allowed to refuse a detailed bill requested by the client?
<p>I kind of have multiple questions under the scope of lawyer fees. They're about a federal white collar criminal case of this friend of mine. I won't get into details as these are rather general questions. Thanks in advance for your help!</p>

<p>So the attorney has a certain flat fee rate. My first question is, if the attorney were to be terminated, **how should the fees be calculated? **By hours/minutes, or by blocks of work completed? </p>

<p><strong>Second question: Are lawyers even allowed to have 'after hour' fees.</strong> For example, a lawyer working on a case charges one fee when he/she works during the day (9pm-6pm) and another higher fee if he/she works on it during the night/weekend. Are they allowed to do so? Some lawyers haven't even heard of this system so I just want to confirm. The mentioned friend (the client) retained a lawyer that purposely work after hours to make more money, and does not make any form of communication during the day. Should that be allowed?</p>

<p>My main question: <strong>When a client has terminated a lawyer, and they request a detailed bill of the fee for the hours/work completed so far, can the lawyer refuse to provide it?</strong> The client wants some of the money back as a refund, as not alot of work was completed. Whether the fee was calculated by mins/hours or by blocks of work completed up until that point, the lawyers are required to provide that information when requested by the client right? </p>

<p>I would be glad to clarify/edit anything that may not make sense. Thank you once again for your help.</p>

<p>If the client terminated the contract pursuant to a clause of the contract then that clause will deal with how much the lawyer is paid.</p>

<p>If they terminated the contract for cause then they can sue for damages. If they repudiated the contract (i.e. terminated without cause) then the lawyer can sue for damages.</p>

<p>Unless the fee is calculated with relation to time worked, there would be no need for a bill based on that. </p>
