Former Attorney's Continuing Duties

Although you may choose to end your relationship with an attorney, or that attorney may end his relationship with you, your former attorney still has several obligations to you as a former client. These obligations don't go away even if your relationship with the attorney comes to an end.

Within a reasonable amount of time after the relationship ends, your former lawyer should send you a bill or accounting that shows fees and expenses incurred on your behalf. If you paid the attorney a flat fee or pre-paid for some legal services, you are entitled to a refund on any fees the attorney hasn't yet earned.

Hand Over Your Legal Files

When changing attorneys, the written notification that you send to your old lawyer should include instructions as to your legal files. Your old lawyer is obligated to turn these files over to you or to your new attorney within a reasonable amount of time, and cannot charge you for costs associated with copying information in the files. If you'd like to minimize contact with your old attorney, you should ask to have the files mailed to you or to your new attorney, or have the new attorney arrange to have the files picked up. Understand that if you have the files mailed or picked up, you will probably be charged a delivery fee by either your old attorney or new attorney. To save yourself this fee, you can pick up the files yourself at your former lawyer's office.

Avoid Conflicts of Interest

All attorneys are required to avoid conflicts of interest between current clients, former clients and potential clients. Your former attorney is not permitted to represent anyone who has interests that are "materially adverse" to you. For practical purposes, that means the lawyer cannot later represent anyone who is suing you, might sue you or could charge you with a crime. For example, supposed you hired your former lawyer to sue your landlord, then you decide to change lawyers. Your former lawyer cannot later represent your landlord. The only exception to this is if your former lawyer asks both you and the prospective client to sign a "conflict waiver" that acknowledges you are aware of the conflict and still give your permission for the lawyer to represent that new client.

Maintain Attorney-Client Privilege

In the United States, we have a concept called attorney-client privilege, which essentially means that the communication between a lawyer and his client must be kept confidential, and a lawyer cannot be forced to reveal the nature or contents of those discussions. That attorney-client privilege still exists even after the relationship between an attorney and his client comes to an end. For example, suppose you have been charged with a crime. As part of your legal representation, your attorney asked you to provide him with all of the facts relating to the crime with which you were charged. You later decide to change attorneys. The prosecutors cannot ask your former attorney to testify about the confidential conversations that the two of you had.