| Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved Charles E. Marunde & FreeRealEstateLaw.com |
| A Description of the Civil Litigation Process by Charles E. Marunde, J.D. |
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Following is the text of what I used as a Representation Agreement with clients
with the attached explanations of the litigation process. I include it here in its
entirety. This is only the tip of the litigation iceberg. (Anyone thinking of the
Titanic?)
Representation Agreement
IT IS HEREBY UNDERSTOOD AND AGREED that Chuck E. Marunde (herein Attorney) will
provide legal representation to (herein Client) involving . This is our agreement or contract.
1. An Advanced Fee Deposit of $ will be paid to retain the services of Chuck E. Marunde.
This Fee is paid to assure the availability of the Attorney in this matter. It will be credited
against Client's overall bill and any initial costs will be paid from this fee. Attached is a
Memorandum Re Billing Procedures, and a Memorandum re Legal Procedure, both of which
are made a part of this agreement by this reference.
2. Client realizes that it is impossible to determine the amount of the final bill in advance,
and agrees that it will be based upon: an hourly rate of $125.00 for all work except court
appearances, including trial time, which will be $225.00 per hour. Attached is a brief
explanation of the litigation process (which is made a part of this agreement by this reference)
and the kinds of time lines, costs, and possible legal procedural issues that could be involved
in your case, and these issues are not intended to be all-inclusive of the kind of legal
procedural and substantive issues that are often involved in litigation.
3. It is agreed that costs (including filing and copying fees, transcripts, services fees, long
distance telephone charges, experts, depositions, etc) will be itemized on Client's bill, and will
be Client's responsibility. It is further agreed that the costs of experts retained in Client's case,
if needed, will be paid by Client in advance, and the attorney need not advance the costs of
these expenses.
4. Chuck E. Marunde is to keep Client informed as to the progress of Client's case. If not
available when Client calls, he will return calls promptly. Client's file and its progress can be
discussed, by appointment, at any reasonable office time.
5. Chuck E. Marunde will make every effort to handle Client's case promptly and efficiently
according to the highest legal and ethical standards. If, however, your case becomes nothing
more than a paper pushing contest between me and the opposing attorney(s), I reserve the
right to withdraw from your case. My reputation is important to me, and I am not interested in
being associated with the kinds of games some attorneys play and the resulting exorbitant
costs passed on to each of the clients.
6. Client agrees to keep Chuck E. Marunde advised at all times, and to cooperate in the
preparation of this case. Client will appear on reasonable notice for depositions and court
appearance, and will comply with all reasonable requests made by Attorney in connection with
the preparation and presentation of this case.
_____________________________
Chuck E. Marunde, Attorney at Law
Client Signature & Date
____________________________
MEMORANDUM RE BILLING PROCEDURES
The billing for attorney legal services often presents one of the most challenging aspects of
client representation. So that you, as a client and consumer, will have a better understanding
of how attorney fees will be billed and collected in this office, I have attempted to explain my
billing procedures. There are primarily four ways in which I bill: fixed fee, variable fee (most
common in my practice), retainer agreement, and contingent fee. Sometimes, there may be a
combination of these methods, but in all cases, court costs, copy charges, and other advanced
costs are in addition to the attorney fees. I charge 10 cents per copy, and even this may not
actually cover my copy costs (although paper is cheap) when you consider that my copy
machine cost $4,500 plus regular maintenance for parts and labor. My desire is to pass on
only the relevant costs of your work on to you at my direct cost. I will charge for the long
distance telephone charges, if any, associated with your case, but I would like you to know that
I have the most inexpensive long distance service available today, and I pass that savings on to
you. I generally charge 50 cents per minute for U.S. long distance telephone calls and $1.50
for international telephone calls. I charge $1.00 per minute for cellular telephone calls that are
made on your behalf with a sense of urgency or out of necessity. If the charges turn out to be
substantially more, than that will be reflected in your bill. These rates may not actually be the
per minute rate charged by my long distance carrier, because the carrier's charges do not add
the associated telephone charges of excise or sales taxes and monthly service charges. I do
not amortize the cost of telephone equipment in your bill. Those charges I pay as my own
administrative costs of doing business. Unlike most attorneys, I do not bill my clients
minimums for each telephone call or minimum charges for time working on your case. For
example, it is common to see on attorney bills a minimum of .1 for a telephone call, which is
1/10th of an hour or 6 minutes. If I talk to you for 3 minutes, that is what I will charge you, not 6
minutes. Please remember, however, if you are timing telephone calls with me that I also may
(not always necessary) have to get your file out and review some documents or
correspondence in order to answer your questions, and for the sake of efficiency, I may simply
add that small portion of time to the charged time on the telephone call rather than segregate it
on the bill. In an effort to be efficient, I am careful not to bill you for excessive legal research.
This means my work involves "due diligence" but not the kind of excessive research (in other
words, turning over every possible stone that ever could be turned) that would result in
extraordinary legal bills to you. Cost control is taken very seriously in this office.
Throughout my representation, I will send you copies of all correspondence and pleadings and
all other relevant documents. I recommend you keep all these copies in your own file at home,
and that way when our work is complete, you will have essentially the same file I have at the
office. I will retain ownership of the office file and all documents in that file. If you should ever
need a complete copy of the office file, we will gladly provide that duplicate for the cost of
copying. I do not keep original documents in trust for clients. Any original documents that you
or your heirs will need must by kept by you or in your safe deposit box.
FIXED FEE:
On some occasions, I will quote a fixed fee for my services. This is expected to be the entire
attorney fee. The court costs such as filing fees, could vary depending on the nature of the
case, but will be disclosed to you prior to disbursement and are in addition to the attorney fee.
VARIABLE FEE:
In most cases there will be a variable fee for my service. This will be a general estimate only in
order to provide you, the client, with a "ballpark" range. Often, special circumstances and
factors will enter into the final fee determination. Some of these factors which will be used in
determining the reasonableness of this fee will include:
1. The time and labor required, the novelty and difficulty of the questions involved, and the
skill requisite to perform the legal service properly;
2. The likelihood that the acceptance of the particular employment will preclude other
employment by the lawyer. I will let you know ahead of time if this applies.
3. The fee customarily charged in the locality for similar legal services;
4. The amount involved and the results obtained;
5. The time limitations imposed by the client or by the circumstances;
6. The nature and length of the professional relationship with the client; and
7. The experience, reputation, and ability of the lawyer or lawyers performing the services.
On most of these matters, however, the bill for legal services will be primarily determined by my
hourly rate with adjustments given for the above factors. This hourly rate will be quoted to you
at the beginning of my representation. Why would I charge $225.00 per hour for court
appearances and not the regular hourly rate of $125.00? Clients often do not know the difficulty
of preparing for a court appearance or a trial. When I am in trial, I have prioritized your case
above all others, and my legal assistant has scheduled all other appointments and work
accordingly. I also must set aside at least one or two days beyond the trial, because often
trials go beyond their expected schedule. This requires rescheduling of work and
appointments at the office again. In addition, the stress involved for an attorney in leading up to
and including a trial is no insignificant matter. This is true especially when we are dealing with
opponents that are irrational and very difficult, but is also true when I am making every diligent
effort to keep up with the work load of preparing for the trial and at the same time master
effective communications with the client to the client’s complete satisfaction. I also charge a
minimum of one hour for court appearances. The actual argument may be less than one hour,
but my total time may involve half of the day, more or less.
If multiple parties are to be involved in this matter, whether they are multiple plaintiffs or
multiple defendants, you can expect the cost and my fees to be higher than if we didn't have
multiple parties. Multiple parties increases the volume of evidence and substantially increases
the legal issues of inter-related factual and legal issues between multiple parties.
If certain attorneys are involved in representing the opposing party, I forewarn you that your cost
and my fees will be higher than if we were dealing with other attorneys. I'm talking about
certain attorneys that drive the cost of litigation through the roof by generating large volumes of
paper and have no apparent interest in resolving anything amicably. These kinds of attorneys
will often lie, distort the facts, misrepresent the law, and advance unethical positions of their
client. In addition, they will typically attempt to create greater stress for me personally and will
usually make a motion or several motions throughout the litigation for sanctions against me.
These are vindictive and bitter attorneys who have no business being in law practice, and
they're the kind who give the legal profession a bad name. The point is, this all costs the client
more money. Please be aware of this possibility.
I pledge to be honest with you about the work and any conflicts that may arise, but I expect and
hope that you will be honest with me if you are concerned or upset. I cannot address matters
that you do not reveal to me. You will discover that I am not perfect. Although I do have some
clients who think that I am the greatest lawyer they’ve ever retained, I do not expect you to
conclude that. I expect I will have to earn your respect and trust.
Finally, there may be some work that is not billed, but shown on the bill with a "no charge"
notation. I do from time to time discount my bills to clients in order to bring the bill to what I
believe is reasonable under the circumstances. I may have actually spent the full billable time
working for you, but when I review the bill at the end of the month, I will also ask myself if I feel
the time charged is reasonable. I reserve the option to reduce your bill accordingly, but I also
reserve the right to consider the reasonableness of the time charged, which is to say that by
sharing this with you I do not also hand you a license to challenge the reasonableness of my
charges every month you receive a bill. If the billing is a serious problem, we will need to sit
down and have a serious discussion right away. It is my hope that we will effectively
communicate with each other on all matters relating to your case, and that as a result, we will
have a good working relationship.
I do charge interest on delinquent accounts, those which are delinquent by more than 60 days.
The interest charged is 1% per month on the unpaid balance.
RETAINER AGREEMENT:
I use two types of retainer fee agreements. In each instance, however, the client pays the
attorney "up front" a sum of money. The first type of retainer involves a non-refundable retainer
which will be deposited in my general account. This is used where the amount is small. The
second type involves, at least in part, a potentially "refundable" retainer which is placed in my
trust account. This retainer is like a deposit which helps to get the case started. The actual
attorney fees that will be charged will be determined as the case progresses, much like the
"variable fee" described above. Disbursement of the retainer amount will then be made per
our retainer agreement. In both types, you will be asked to sign a written Retainer Agreement
setting forth the terms of representation and the work contracted to be performed.
CONTINGENT FEE:
A contingency fee arrangement will be set forth in a separate, written Contingent Fee
Agreement. Generally, in this type of case, you are billed on a percentage of the recovery
depending upon the outcome of your case, rather than on a hourly rate. Costs, however will be
billed regardless of the outcome of the case.
SUMMARY:
I will try to bill on a monthly basis or within a short time after a legal matter is completed.
Because of my schedule, however, this is not always possible. It may be that there is a time
lag between when a service is completed and a billing goes out. I would appreciate your
patience and cooperation if that happens.
Please let me know if you have any questions. I hope this summary of my billing practices has
been helpful.
Sincerely,
Chuck E. Marunde
MEMORANDUM RE LEGAL PROCEDURE
The purpose of this memorandum is to make sure that I am carefully communicating with you
regarding the kinds of legal issues that you may face in litigation, the possible hurdles that you
will meet along the way, the possible time lines and frustrating delays in the justice system,
and the costs you may incur. No brief letter or memorandum can address all the issues or
possible scenarios, but I intend this to help you make fully informed decisions and help you
understand that process of litigation in Clallam County.
IMPORTANT. I think it is important that you know that I cannot guarantee any particular result.
You and I may discuss the facts and the law until we have thoroughly convinced ourselves that
you cannot lose, but experience reminds me that no case is guaranteed and no judge can be
certain to make a decision in your favor. Although pursuing the truth is my primary task in this
“less than perfect” justice system, we all know now that the court room is not necessarily the
place to expect absolute justice. Sometimes justice escapes our system. Sometimes the
guilty are acquitted, and occasionally the innocent are convicted. In law, the truth is often
obscured by games lawyers play or even by outright lies by other individuals.
I strongly recommend you read a new book entitled, "Profit and The Practice of Law" by Michael
Trotter (University of Georgia Press). There is a particularly revealing chapter in this book worth
reading. The author describes the evolution of the practice of law and how many lawyers
practice law today with bullying and intimidation, even to the point of screaming and acting
irrational in order to pressure the opposition into a favorable settlement. I experience this kind
of behavior from "grown-up" lawyers on a regular basis. Their clients apparently encourage
such representation in order to get what they want. For these people (and their lawyers) truth is
not important. I share this with you so that you will not be surprised if such tactics are used in
your case, but you should realize that with such irrational behavior you will experience some
level of personal stress, either low or high depending upon you and your life experience. If you
do not have the capacity for substantial stress which is almost always involved in litigation, I
urge you not to litigate. I also recommend that you read Gerry Spence's book, "Justice For
None." It is a very revealing book about the justice system and may help educate you to some
of the inside information an experienced lawyer has learned.
I believe that lawyers are called to be ambassadors of justice. While working on your case, I
will be in constant pursuit of the truth and all facts and relevant law to establish that truth. While
the practice of law for some means winning while doing or saying whatever it takes to win
regardless of truth, I believe that winning must come honorably. This means that we will have
to be assertive, confident, knowledgeable, professional, strong, and unrelenting. I do not
believe that an attorney must pretend to be irrational or pretend to be angry. I do believe that my
job is to diligently and professionally pursue victory for you while maintaining integrity. I expect
that we will work together as much as we can to accomplish these things.
In our earliest discussions about your case and in the discussions yet to come, we will
undoubtedly talk about some of the time lines involved in litigation, how long it takes to
accomplish certain things, the time restrictions and deadlines for certain procedures. In
addition to the minimum time lines which I may share with you, please realize that we must
also work with real life calendars for my own schedule, your schedule, and the schedule of the
other attorney or attorneys and the judge's. We will do things as efficiently as we can, but it is
rare that every detail and everyone's schedule allows us to complete litigation on a case in the
most timely manner. I have learned that life is full of surprises, and we attempt to anticipate
those surprises, we will not likely anticipate all of them.
That leads me to another very important issue: the cost of this case for you. I normally attempt
to handle litigation with efficiency or effectiveness with thorough preparation. But there is also
a practical limit for most clients as to how extensive my investigation and legal research should
be. Let me put it this way. If you want every stone on the face of the earth turned over, we will
be prepared best but it will also cost you dearly. On the other hand, if you want me to balance
investigation/research with a sense of reasonableness for the cost involved, then I can do that.
With this later approach, you must realize that we are not going to uncover everything that could
possibly be exposed. Consistent with my experience, we make every effort to do the best
possible job while managing the cost for you. As in most things in life, balance is important in
your case. If cost is not a factor for you, and you want virtually no possibility of not uncovering
everything under the sun related to your case, you must make that clear to me, and I must tell
you in that case the cost of your case would be very high.
Most clients want me to be assertive in the prosecution of their case. I will do that, but in the
process of being assertive rather than passive, of being proactive and not just reactive, a judge
may decide we have been too assertive or aggressive and order sanctions against either you
or me. Sanctions are an award of attorney's fees and/or costs for the opposing attorney or his
client(s). Although it is rare that sanctions are awarded, if they are in this case, you agree to
pay those just as you would pay any other cost associated with your case. You can see from
this and other issues raised in this lengthy retainer agreement that there are risks when one
chooses to litigate. When you retain me to litigate on your behalf, you agree to take on these
risks. You may win at every point, but you may not win every motion or ultimate judgment. More
than any other factor, the facts of your case will determine the success of your cause.
I want to share with you some general procedural aspects of your case, because these are
often the kinds of questions that clients ask me several times before the case is over, and
although I don’t mind explaining the legal procedures to my clients, even several times, it will
save you money in the long run if I can articulate some of these things on paper, and if
necessary, you can read and re-read this letter as we work through the process.
The filing of a summons and complaint is, of course, the first shot in the beginning of the
litigation process. This step is only taken after all other reasonable efforts at an amicable
resolution have failed. Once the summons and complaint are filed, a defendant in state has
20 days to answer, and an out of state defendant has 60 days to answer. If the defendant has
not answered within that time period, I can make a motion for default. Normally, I receive an
answer after my motion but prior to the day the default motion is brought before a judge. This
20 day period is also a time of careful consideration for a defendant. He or she should be
considering the implications of litigation and should be considering how the suit may be
quickly and reasonably brought to an end. If the defendant runs out and hires an attorney who
loves to litigate no matter what the facts may be, then you will most likely have expensive
litigation ahead. I would like to add that sometimes in response to a letter or series of
communications from me, an opposing party will retain an attorney who will file a summons
and complaint before you do. If this happens, you need to know that there is no strategic
advantage to that for the other side. All of your claims can be in response or by way of
counterclaims, if necessary.
Discovery is the next step in litigation, and this involves written interrogatories and depositions.
This is a fact finding process in preparation for trial. Our rules of evidence are intended to
provide all parties with full disclosure of all relevant facts, so there should be no extraordinary
surprises at trial. This process can be short and sweet or extremely expensive, depending
primarily on the other attorney. There are attorneys who will run the cost of litigation through the
roof in the discovery process. They do this by extensive and repeated interrogatories and
depositions of not only you, but other potential witnesses and experts. Just responding to an
overly aggressive discovery attorney can cost literally thousands of dollars.
POSSIBLE AND PROBABLE AREAS OF DISPUTE
Without going into great detail to discuss both procedural and substantive issues that may bog
us down in the mud, following is a quick index from the Superior Court Rules with titles for the
kinds of areas that we may get into. Each one of these areas involves a great deal of complex
issues and is an open door (or should I say bank vault) for an intelligent and “smokescreen”
attorney. They involve issues that, in my opinion, guilty defendants want to raise to avoid
liability, but that means a plaintiff gets sucked into dealing with numerous issues, some of
which are quite irrelevant to the real issues at hand. Of course, there is always room for good
lawyering, and I respect good lawyering, but procedural shenanigans for the sake of avoiding
responsibility is not good lawyering. I’ve lifted the following right out of the court rules, and so I’
ve left the numbering as it is.
3. PLEADINGS AND MOTIONS
7 Pleadings Allowed; Form of Motions
8 General Rules of Pleading
9 Pleading Special Matters
10 Form of Pleadings and Other Papers
11 Signing of Pleadings, Motions, and Legal Memoranda: Sanctions
12 Defenses and Objections
13 Counterclaim and Cross Claim
14 Third Party Practice
15 Amended and Supplemental Pleadings
16 Pretrial Procedure and Formulating Issues
4. PARTIES
17 Parties Plaintiff and Defendant; Capacity
18 Joinder of Claims and Remedies
19 Joinder of Persons Needed for Just Adjudication
20 Permissive Joinder of Parties 21 Misjoinder and Nonjoinder of Parties
22 Interpleader
23 Class Actions
23.1 Derivative Actions by Shareholders
23.2 Actions Relating to Unincorporated Associations
24 Intervention
25 Substitution of Parties
5. DEPOSITIONS AND DISCOVERY
26 General Provisions Governing Discovery
27 Perpetuation of Testimony
28 Persons Before Whom Depositions May Be Taken
29 Stipulations Regarding Discovery Procedure
30 Depositions Upon Oral Examination
31 Depositions Upon Written Questions
32 Use of Depositions in Court Proceedings
33 Interrogatories to Parties
34 Production of Documents and Things and Entry Upon Land for Inspection and Other
Purposes
35 Physical and Mental Examination of Persons
36 Requests for Admission
37 Failure To Make Discovery: Sanctions
There are almost an infinite number of possible permutations as to what can happen in
litigation, and this is true because of the various motions and pleadings that can be filed
throughout the process, even beyond the conclusion of the trial.
There are also many traps for the unwary litigator, and some of these traps can quickly end
your case or in some cases, cost you time and money.
TIME AND COSTS
As you know, I charge $125.00 per hour. The question that I cannot answer for you is how
many hours of my time will this case take. If the other side intended to be reasonable or even
logical, I could probably give you some fairly accurate estimates, but I have dealt with so many
unreasonable and therefore unpredictable people, including attorneys, that I cannot accurately
predict the precise scenario you will face. I can say a couple of things about past cases. In
one of the least expensive cases I’ve had from beginning all the way through trial, my legal fees
were approximately $5,000.00. In another case where the other attorney is a “smokescreen”
attorney who will not discuss any settlement or amicable resolutions and who is bent on
aggressive and expensive legal maneuvering, my client’s legal fees were about $10,000 long
before a trial was even set. Most of the trials I handle cost my clients between $10,000 and
$15,000, but obviously depending on the other side’s responses, an involved and complex trial
could cost as much as $20,000 or more. I trust your case will not cost so much, but as I said
earlier, if it were to go to trial, it could. You need to be prepared for this possibility. Author and
Attorney Michael Trotter stated in his book Profit and The Practice of Law that bad judicial
decisions equal expensive law. This is true, and we unfortunately have had some bad
decisions in the law, a sad heritage of our justice system.
I think you should be aware that your cost will most likely be more than normal if certain
attorneys are involved in representing the opposing party. What I mean is simply this: there
are a few attorneys (I will not identify anyone by name) whose involvement means extensive
paperwork, pleadings, motions, and as many smokescreens as they can raise. This kind of
nonsense must be responded to or you loose by default, which is to say that if one of these
attorneys is involved, your cost will go up significantly.
I do have one of the finest legal assistants in the State of Washington, and this is to your
benefit as well as mine. She is very proficient and professional. You will find that I keep her up-
to-date on most details of my work, and you will often be able to get immediate assistance
from her if I am busy at the moment or out of the office. My legal assistant's time is billed at
$85.00 per hour. This is to your benefit also, because she is capable of doing many tasks that
I would otherwise need to do, and because of her specialized expertise, she is able to
accomplish tasks often in less time than most paralegals or legal assistants. In addition, I
have another research assistant (who is a practicing lawyer in Washington and who's time will
be billed at my hourly rate), and I have a typist, and a delivery person. We work as a team for
the sake of your case.
There may also be the need for some follow-up work by me and my legal assistant even after
your trial or the settlement of your case. You should be aware that when your case is not
complete until all legal work is finalized. For example, after a trial is done, there is typically a
need to prepare findings of fact and conclusions of law, a judgment, a stipulation, or other
pleadings. The time and charges for this work will, of course, come in the month or months
following trial or settlement of your case.
One issue that is very important to both of us is the issue of timeliness. In other words, how
aggressive do you want me to be in your case? Most people would say that they want to move
forward as quickly as rationally possible, and that would make sense, but one of the
challenges of litigation is that no one (I don't care how experienced or what kind of genius he or
she may be) can foretell the future in every detail of litigation. I generally come pretty close to
predicting a likely scenario, but in nearly every case there are surprises. No one likes
surprises, especially the kind that cost money, and so I want you to know that the more
aggressive your stance in litigation, the more likely you will fight unexpected motions between
now and trial, and some of those motions may include requests for attorney's fees and costs
(also called sanctions) against you. This does not mean they are automatically granted, only
that it may be an issue you will find us fighting, and it is also possible there could be sanctions
against you, which would be included as part of the costs you will be billed for.
A commonly asked question is this: if I win, can I get attorney’s fees and costs? The answer is
usually, “No.” The reason is that in Washington, you only get attorney’s fees and costs in two
situations: 1) when you have a contract clause which would award fees and costs to the
prevailing party, and 2) when there is a state statute authorizing fees and costs (as in the
consumer protection act). In all other cases, the awarding of fees and costs is discretionary
with the judge, and judges rarely award fees and costs to a prevailing party.
In addition to my fees, you will be responsible for costs incurred along the way. The filing fee of
$110.00 is the first cost. Other costs include service of process fees, publication fees, postage
and copying, long distance phone charges or fax charges, title company fees (if necessary),
recording fees, and deposition costs. We may also need the services of an expert either
before and/or at trial, and experts typically charge by the hour. There may be other costs that
come up that I have not itemized here.
One factor that clients often discuss with me at about the mid-point of litigation is the very high
stress caused by litigation. I only mention this, because money and time are not the only
considerations. In deciding how far to go with litigation, stress is a significant factor.
Of course, no one goes into litigation unless they expect and hope to win, and I am sure that is
true with you. I will do everything I can to see that you do win. The reason for this letter is not to
encourage you with false expectations, but to exhort you to carefully consider the “cost” of
litigation. I believe that my clients prefer full disclosure with no surprises later on. For that
reason, I have shared some of the difficulties of litigation and the possible costs so you will be
fully informed, at least as much as a letter can do this.
I hope this letter is helpful. It is an effort by me to convey a great deal of detailed legal
information to you without having to charge you for the time it would take to discuss these
matters in person. If you have any specific questions that you need answered, please call me
and we can talk about it.
I do have two web sites which you are welcome to use. One includes megabytes of free real
estate information, including selected statutes and case law. The other includes information
on estate planning. I also have email. The web site and email are another means of efficiently
communicating with clients. The web sites are located at [deleted here because no longer
hosted at these sites.] PLEASE RECOGNIZE AND BE FORWARNED that Internet experts have
said that email is not perfectly secure, that it is possible that someone could unethically or
illegally access email communications through email channels. I recommend that your email
to me include a title or subject such as "Attorney-Client Privileged Communication." In addition,
if you want to be more secure in your email communications with me, you can use a free
software program called "PGP." It is an email encryption program, which I have installed and
which would allow us to email to each other with encrypted email messages. Ordinarily, there
probably isn't a need for such communications, but you may want to consider it. I do not
guarantee Internet email privacy.
Client Outcome
If you could describe your desired outcome (end result or ultimate goal) in this whole situation,
what would it be in one or two or three sentences? (This will help me in understanding your
desires and preferences, and therefore it will help me focus on what is most important to you.)
with the attached explanations of the litigation process. I include it here in its
entirety. This is only the tip of the litigation iceberg. (Anyone thinking of the
Titanic?)
Representation Agreement
IT IS HEREBY UNDERSTOOD AND AGREED that Chuck E. Marunde (herein Attorney) will
provide legal representation to (herein Client) involving . This is our agreement or contract.
1. An Advanced Fee Deposit of $ will be paid to retain the services of Chuck E. Marunde.
This Fee is paid to assure the availability of the Attorney in this matter. It will be credited
against Client's overall bill and any initial costs will be paid from this fee. Attached is a
Memorandum Re Billing Procedures, and a Memorandum re Legal Procedure, both of which
are made a part of this agreement by this reference.
2. Client realizes that it is impossible to determine the amount of the final bill in advance,
and agrees that it will be based upon: an hourly rate of $125.00 for all work except court
appearances, including trial time, which will be $225.00 per hour. Attached is a brief
explanation of the litigation process (which is made a part of this agreement by this reference)
and the kinds of time lines, costs, and possible legal procedural issues that could be involved
in your case, and these issues are not intended to be all-inclusive of the kind of legal
procedural and substantive issues that are often involved in litigation.
3. It is agreed that costs (including filing and copying fees, transcripts, services fees, long
distance telephone charges, experts, depositions, etc) will be itemized on Client's bill, and will
be Client's responsibility. It is further agreed that the costs of experts retained in Client's case,
if needed, will be paid by Client in advance, and the attorney need not advance the costs of
these expenses.
4. Chuck E. Marunde is to keep Client informed as to the progress of Client's case. If not
available when Client calls, he will return calls promptly. Client's file and its progress can be
discussed, by appointment, at any reasonable office time.
5. Chuck E. Marunde will make every effort to handle Client's case promptly and efficiently
according to the highest legal and ethical standards. If, however, your case becomes nothing
more than a paper pushing contest between me and the opposing attorney(s), I reserve the
right to withdraw from your case. My reputation is important to me, and I am not interested in
being associated with the kinds of games some attorneys play and the resulting exorbitant
costs passed on to each of the clients.
6. Client agrees to keep Chuck E. Marunde advised at all times, and to cooperate in the
preparation of this case. Client will appear on reasonable notice for depositions and court
appearance, and will comply with all reasonable requests made by Attorney in connection with
the preparation and presentation of this case.
_____________________________
Chuck E. Marunde, Attorney at Law
Client Signature & Date
____________________________
MEMORANDUM RE BILLING PROCEDURES
The billing for attorney legal services often presents one of the most challenging aspects of
client representation. So that you, as a client and consumer, will have a better understanding
of how attorney fees will be billed and collected in this office, I have attempted to explain my
billing procedures. There are primarily four ways in which I bill: fixed fee, variable fee (most
common in my practice), retainer agreement, and contingent fee. Sometimes, there may be a
combination of these methods, but in all cases, court costs, copy charges, and other advanced
costs are in addition to the attorney fees. I charge 10 cents per copy, and even this may not
actually cover my copy costs (although paper is cheap) when you consider that my copy
machine cost $4,500 plus regular maintenance for parts and labor. My desire is to pass on
only the relevant costs of your work on to you at my direct cost. I will charge for the long
distance telephone charges, if any, associated with your case, but I would like you to know that
I have the most inexpensive long distance service available today, and I pass that savings on to
you. I generally charge 50 cents per minute for U.S. long distance telephone calls and $1.50
for international telephone calls. I charge $1.00 per minute for cellular telephone calls that are
made on your behalf with a sense of urgency or out of necessity. If the charges turn out to be
substantially more, than that will be reflected in your bill. These rates may not actually be the
per minute rate charged by my long distance carrier, because the carrier's charges do not add
the associated telephone charges of excise or sales taxes and monthly service charges. I do
not amortize the cost of telephone equipment in your bill. Those charges I pay as my own
administrative costs of doing business. Unlike most attorneys, I do not bill my clients
minimums for each telephone call or minimum charges for time working on your case. For
example, it is common to see on attorney bills a minimum of .1 for a telephone call, which is
1/10th of an hour or 6 minutes. If I talk to you for 3 minutes, that is what I will charge you, not 6
minutes. Please remember, however, if you are timing telephone calls with me that I also may
(not always necessary) have to get your file out and review some documents or
correspondence in order to answer your questions, and for the sake of efficiency, I may simply
add that small portion of time to the charged time on the telephone call rather than segregate it
on the bill. In an effort to be efficient, I am careful not to bill you for excessive legal research.
This means my work involves "due diligence" but not the kind of excessive research (in other
words, turning over every possible stone that ever could be turned) that would result in
extraordinary legal bills to you. Cost control is taken very seriously in this office.
Throughout my representation, I will send you copies of all correspondence and pleadings and
all other relevant documents. I recommend you keep all these copies in your own file at home,
and that way when our work is complete, you will have essentially the same file I have at the
office. I will retain ownership of the office file and all documents in that file. If you should ever
need a complete copy of the office file, we will gladly provide that duplicate for the cost of
copying. I do not keep original documents in trust for clients. Any original documents that you
or your heirs will need must by kept by you or in your safe deposit box.
FIXED FEE:
On some occasions, I will quote a fixed fee for my services. This is expected to be the entire
attorney fee. The court costs such as filing fees, could vary depending on the nature of the
case, but will be disclosed to you prior to disbursement and are in addition to the attorney fee.
VARIABLE FEE:
In most cases there will be a variable fee for my service. This will be a general estimate only in
order to provide you, the client, with a "ballpark" range. Often, special circumstances and
factors will enter into the final fee determination. Some of these factors which will be used in
determining the reasonableness of this fee will include:
1. The time and labor required, the novelty and difficulty of the questions involved, and the
skill requisite to perform the legal service properly;
2. The likelihood that the acceptance of the particular employment will preclude other
employment by the lawyer. I will let you know ahead of time if this applies.
3. The fee customarily charged in the locality for similar legal services;
4. The amount involved and the results obtained;
5. The time limitations imposed by the client or by the circumstances;
6. The nature and length of the professional relationship with the client; and
7. The experience, reputation, and ability of the lawyer or lawyers performing the services.
On most of these matters, however, the bill for legal services will be primarily determined by my
hourly rate with adjustments given for the above factors. This hourly rate will be quoted to you
at the beginning of my representation. Why would I charge $225.00 per hour for court
appearances and not the regular hourly rate of $125.00? Clients often do not know the difficulty
of preparing for a court appearance or a trial. When I am in trial, I have prioritized your case
above all others, and my legal assistant has scheduled all other appointments and work
accordingly. I also must set aside at least one or two days beyond the trial, because often
trials go beyond their expected schedule. This requires rescheduling of work and
appointments at the office again. In addition, the stress involved for an attorney in leading up to
and including a trial is no insignificant matter. This is true especially when we are dealing with
opponents that are irrational and very difficult, but is also true when I am making every diligent
effort to keep up with the work load of preparing for the trial and at the same time master
effective communications with the client to the client’s complete satisfaction. I also charge a
minimum of one hour for court appearances. The actual argument may be less than one hour,
but my total time may involve half of the day, more or less.
If multiple parties are to be involved in this matter, whether they are multiple plaintiffs or
multiple defendants, you can expect the cost and my fees to be higher than if we didn't have
multiple parties. Multiple parties increases the volume of evidence and substantially increases
the legal issues of inter-related factual and legal issues between multiple parties.
If certain attorneys are involved in representing the opposing party, I forewarn you that your cost
and my fees will be higher than if we were dealing with other attorneys. I'm talking about
certain attorneys that drive the cost of litigation through the roof by generating large volumes of
paper and have no apparent interest in resolving anything amicably. These kinds of attorneys
will often lie, distort the facts, misrepresent the law, and advance unethical positions of their
client. In addition, they will typically attempt to create greater stress for me personally and will
usually make a motion or several motions throughout the litigation for sanctions against me.
These are vindictive and bitter attorneys who have no business being in law practice, and
they're the kind who give the legal profession a bad name. The point is, this all costs the client
more money. Please be aware of this possibility.
I pledge to be honest with you about the work and any conflicts that may arise, but I expect and
hope that you will be honest with me if you are concerned or upset. I cannot address matters
that you do not reveal to me. You will discover that I am not perfect. Although I do have some
clients who think that I am the greatest lawyer they’ve ever retained, I do not expect you to
conclude that. I expect I will have to earn your respect and trust.
Finally, there may be some work that is not billed, but shown on the bill with a "no charge"
notation. I do from time to time discount my bills to clients in order to bring the bill to what I
believe is reasonable under the circumstances. I may have actually spent the full billable time
working for you, but when I review the bill at the end of the month, I will also ask myself if I feel
the time charged is reasonable. I reserve the option to reduce your bill accordingly, but I also
reserve the right to consider the reasonableness of the time charged, which is to say that by
sharing this with you I do not also hand you a license to challenge the reasonableness of my
charges every month you receive a bill. If the billing is a serious problem, we will need to sit
down and have a serious discussion right away. It is my hope that we will effectively
communicate with each other on all matters relating to your case, and that as a result, we will
have a good working relationship.
I do charge interest on delinquent accounts, those which are delinquent by more than 60 days.
The interest charged is 1% per month on the unpaid balance.
RETAINER AGREEMENT:
I use two types of retainer fee agreements. In each instance, however, the client pays the
attorney "up front" a sum of money. The first type of retainer involves a non-refundable retainer
which will be deposited in my general account. This is used where the amount is small. The
second type involves, at least in part, a potentially "refundable" retainer which is placed in my
trust account. This retainer is like a deposit which helps to get the case started. The actual
attorney fees that will be charged will be determined as the case progresses, much like the
"variable fee" described above. Disbursement of the retainer amount will then be made per
our retainer agreement. In both types, you will be asked to sign a written Retainer Agreement
setting forth the terms of representation and the work contracted to be performed.
CONTINGENT FEE:
A contingency fee arrangement will be set forth in a separate, written Contingent Fee
Agreement. Generally, in this type of case, you are billed on a percentage of the recovery
depending upon the outcome of your case, rather than on a hourly rate. Costs, however will be
billed regardless of the outcome of the case.
SUMMARY:
I will try to bill on a monthly basis or within a short time after a legal matter is completed.
Because of my schedule, however, this is not always possible. It may be that there is a time
lag between when a service is completed and a billing goes out. I would appreciate your
patience and cooperation if that happens.
Please let me know if you have any questions. I hope this summary of my billing practices has
been helpful.
Sincerely,
Chuck E. Marunde
MEMORANDUM RE LEGAL PROCEDURE
The purpose of this memorandum is to make sure that I am carefully communicating with you
regarding the kinds of legal issues that you may face in litigation, the possible hurdles that you
will meet along the way, the possible time lines and frustrating delays in the justice system,
and the costs you may incur. No brief letter or memorandum can address all the issues or
possible scenarios, but I intend this to help you make fully informed decisions and help you
understand that process of litigation in Clallam County.
IMPORTANT. I think it is important that you know that I cannot guarantee any particular result.
You and I may discuss the facts and the law until we have thoroughly convinced ourselves that
you cannot lose, but experience reminds me that no case is guaranteed and no judge can be
certain to make a decision in your favor. Although pursuing the truth is my primary task in this
“less than perfect” justice system, we all know now that the court room is not necessarily the
place to expect absolute justice. Sometimes justice escapes our system. Sometimes the
guilty are acquitted, and occasionally the innocent are convicted. In law, the truth is often
obscured by games lawyers play or even by outright lies by other individuals.
I strongly recommend you read a new book entitled, "Profit and The Practice of Law" by Michael
Trotter (University of Georgia Press). There is a particularly revealing chapter in this book worth
reading. The author describes the evolution of the practice of law and how many lawyers
practice law today with bullying and intimidation, even to the point of screaming and acting
irrational in order to pressure the opposition into a favorable settlement. I experience this kind
of behavior from "grown-up" lawyers on a regular basis. Their clients apparently encourage
such representation in order to get what they want. For these people (and their lawyers) truth is
not important. I share this with you so that you will not be surprised if such tactics are used in
your case, but you should realize that with such irrational behavior you will experience some
level of personal stress, either low or high depending upon you and your life experience. If you
do not have the capacity for substantial stress which is almost always involved in litigation, I
urge you not to litigate. I also recommend that you read Gerry Spence's book, "Justice For
None." It is a very revealing book about the justice system and may help educate you to some
of the inside information an experienced lawyer has learned.
I believe that lawyers are called to be ambassadors of justice. While working on your case, I
will be in constant pursuit of the truth and all facts and relevant law to establish that truth. While
the practice of law for some means winning while doing or saying whatever it takes to win
regardless of truth, I believe that winning must come honorably. This means that we will have
to be assertive, confident, knowledgeable, professional, strong, and unrelenting. I do not
believe that an attorney must pretend to be irrational or pretend to be angry. I do believe that my
job is to diligently and professionally pursue victory for you while maintaining integrity. I expect
that we will work together as much as we can to accomplish these things.
In our earliest discussions about your case and in the discussions yet to come, we will
undoubtedly talk about some of the time lines involved in litigation, how long it takes to
accomplish certain things, the time restrictions and deadlines for certain procedures. In
addition to the minimum time lines which I may share with you, please realize that we must
also work with real life calendars for my own schedule, your schedule, and the schedule of the
other attorney or attorneys and the judge's. We will do things as efficiently as we can, but it is
rare that every detail and everyone's schedule allows us to complete litigation on a case in the
most timely manner. I have learned that life is full of surprises, and we attempt to anticipate
those surprises, we will not likely anticipate all of them.
That leads me to another very important issue: the cost of this case for you. I normally attempt
to handle litigation with efficiency or effectiveness with thorough preparation. But there is also
a practical limit for most clients as to how extensive my investigation and legal research should
be. Let me put it this way. If you want every stone on the face of the earth turned over, we will
be prepared best but it will also cost you dearly. On the other hand, if you want me to balance
investigation/research with a sense of reasonableness for the cost involved, then I can do that.
With this later approach, you must realize that we are not going to uncover everything that could
possibly be exposed. Consistent with my experience, we make every effort to do the best
possible job while managing the cost for you. As in most things in life, balance is important in
your case. If cost is not a factor for you, and you want virtually no possibility of not uncovering
everything under the sun related to your case, you must make that clear to me, and I must tell
you in that case the cost of your case would be very high.
Most clients want me to be assertive in the prosecution of their case. I will do that, but in the
process of being assertive rather than passive, of being proactive and not just reactive, a judge
may decide we have been too assertive or aggressive and order sanctions against either you
or me. Sanctions are an award of attorney's fees and/or costs for the opposing attorney or his
client(s). Although it is rare that sanctions are awarded, if they are in this case, you agree to
pay those just as you would pay any other cost associated with your case. You can see from
this and other issues raised in this lengthy retainer agreement that there are risks when one
chooses to litigate. When you retain me to litigate on your behalf, you agree to take on these
risks. You may win at every point, but you may not win every motion or ultimate judgment. More
than any other factor, the facts of your case will determine the success of your cause.
I want to share with you some general procedural aspects of your case, because these are
often the kinds of questions that clients ask me several times before the case is over, and
although I don’t mind explaining the legal procedures to my clients, even several times, it will
save you money in the long run if I can articulate some of these things on paper, and if
necessary, you can read and re-read this letter as we work through the process.
The filing of a summons and complaint is, of course, the first shot in the beginning of the
litigation process. This step is only taken after all other reasonable efforts at an amicable
resolution have failed. Once the summons and complaint are filed, a defendant in state has
20 days to answer, and an out of state defendant has 60 days to answer. If the defendant has
not answered within that time period, I can make a motion for default. Normally, I receive an
answer after my motion but prior to the day the default motion is brought before a judge. This
20 day period is also a time of careful consideration for a defendant. He or she should be
considering the implications of litigation and should be considering how the suit may be
quickly and reasonably brought to an end. If the defendant runs out and hires an attorney who
loves to litigate no matter what the facts may be, then you will most likely have expensive
litigation ahead. I would like to add that sometimes in response to a letter or series of
communications from me, an opposing party will retain an attorney who will file a summons
and complaint before you do. If this happens, you need to know that there is no strategic
advantage to that for the other side. All of your claims can be in response or by way of
counterclaims, if necessary.
Discovery is the next step in litigation, and this involves written interrogatories and depositions.
This is a fact finding process in preparation for trial. Our rules of evidence are intended to
provide all parties with full disclosure of all relevant facts, so there should be no extraordinary
surprises at trial. This process can be short and sweet or extremely expensive, depending
primarily on the other attorney. There are attorneys who will run the cost of litigation through the
roof in the discovery process. They do this by extensive and repeated interrogatories and
depositions of not only you, but other potential witnesses and experts. Just responding to an
overly aggressive discovery attorney can cost literally thousands of dollars.
POSSIBLE AND PROBABLE AREAS OF DISPUTE
Without going into great detail to discuss both procedural and substantive issues that may bog
us down in the mud, following is a quick index from the Superior Court Rules with titles for the
kinds of areas that we may get into. Each one of these areas involves a great deal of complex
issues and is an open door (or should I say bank vault) for an intelligent and “smokescreen”
attorney. They involve issues that, in my opinion, guilty defendants want to raise to avoid
liability, but that means a plaintiff gets sucked into dealing with numerous issues, some of
which are quite irrelevant to the real issues at hand. Of course, there is always room for good
lawyering, and I respect good lawyering, but procedural shenanigans for the sake of avoiding
responsibility is not good lawyering. I’ve lifted the following right out of the court rules, and so I’
ve left the numbering as it is.
3. PLEADINGS AND MOTIONS
7 Pleadings Allowed; Form of Motions
8 General Rules of Pleading
9 Pleading Special Matters
10 Form of Pleadings and Other Papers
11 Signing of Pleadings, Motions, and Legal Memoranda: Sanctions
12 Defenses and Objections
13 Counterclaim and Cross Claim
14 Third Party Practice
15 Amended and Supplemental Pleadings
16 Pretrial Procedure and Formulating Issues
4. PARTIES
17 Parties Plaintiff and Defendant; Capacity
18 Joinder of Claims and Remedies
19 Joinder of Persons Needed for Just Adjudication
20 Permissive Joinder of Parties 21 Misjoinder and Nonjoinder of Parties
22 Interpleader
23 Class Actions
23.1 Derivative Actions by Shareholders
23.2 Actions Relating to Unincorporated Associations
24 Intervention
25 Substitution of Parties
5. DEPOSITIONS AND DISCOVERY
26 General Provisions Governing Discovery
27 Perpetuation of Testimony
28 Persons Before Whom Depositions May Be Taken
29 Stipulations Regarding Discovery Procedure
30 Depositions Upon Oral Examination
31 Depositions Upon Written Questions
32 Use of Depositions in Court Proceedings
33 Interrogatories to Parties
34 Production of Documents and Things and Entry Upon Land for Inspection and Other
Purposes
35 Physical and Mental Examination of Persons
36 Requests for Admission
37 Failure To Make Discovery: Sanctions
There are almost an infinite number of possible permutations as to what can happen in
litigation, and this is true because of the various motions and pleadings that can be filed
throughout the process, even beyond the conclusion of the trial.
There are also many traps for the unwary litigator, and some of these traps can quickly end
your case or in some cases, cost you time and money.
TIME AND COSTS
As you know, I charge $125.00 per hour. The question that I cannot answer for you is how
many hours of my time will this case take. If the other side intended to be reasonable or even
logical, I could probably give you some fairly accurate estimates, but I have dealt with so many
unreasonable and therefore unpredictable people, including attorneys, that I cannot accurately
predict the precise scenario you will face. I can say a couple of things about past cases. In
one of the least expensive cases I’ve had from beginning all the way through trial, my legal fees
were approximately $5,000.00. In another case where the other attorney is a “smokescreen”
attorney who will not discuss any settlement or amicable resolutions and who is bent on
aggressive and expensive legal maneuvering, my client’s legal fees were about $10,000 long
before a trial was even set. Most of the trials I handle cost my clients between $10,000 and
$15,000, but obviously depending on the other side’s responses, an involved and complex trial
could cost as much as $20,000 or more. I trust your case will not cost so much, but as I said
earlier, if it were to go to trial, it could. You need to be prepared for this possibility. Author and
Attorney Michael Trotter stated in his book Profit and The Practice of Law that bad judicial
decisions equal expensive law. This is true, and we unfortunately have had some bad
decisions in the law, a sad heritage of our justice system.
I think you should be aware that your cost will most likely be more than normal if certain
attorneys are involved in representing the opposing party. What I mean is simply this: there
are a few attorneys (I will not identify anyone by name) whose involvement means extensive
paperwork, pleadings, motions, and as many smokescreens as they can raise. This kind of
nonsense must be responded to or you loose by default, which is to say that if one of these
attorneys is involved, your cost will go up significantly.
I do have one of the finest legal assistants in the State of Washington, and this is to your
benefit as well as mine. She is very proficient and professional. You will find that I keep her up-
to-date on most details of my work, and you will often be able to get immediate assistance
from her if I am busy at the moment or out of the office. My legal assistant's time is billed at
$85.00 per hour. This is to your benefit also, because she is capable of doing many tasks that
I would otherwise need to do, and because of her specialized expertise, she is able to
accomplish tasks often in less time than most paralegals or legal assistants. In addition, I
have another research assistant (who is a practicing lawyer in Washington and who's time will
be billed at my hourly rate), and I have a typist, and a delivery person. We work as a team for
the sake of your case.
There may also be the need for some follow-up work by me and my legal assistant even after
your trial or the settlement of your case. You should be aware that when your case is not
complete until all legal work is finalized. For example, after a trial is done, there is typically a
need to prepare findings of fact and conclusions of law, a judgment, a stipulation, or other
pleadings. The time and charges for this work will, of course, come in the month or months
following trial or settlement of your case.
One issue that is very important to both of us is the issue of timeliness. In other words, how
aggressive do you want me to be in your case? Most people would say that they want to move
forward as quickly as rationally possible, and that would make sense, but one of the
challenges of litigation is that no one (I don't care how experienced or what kind of genius he or
she may be) can foretell the future in every detail of litigation. I generally come pretty close to
predicting a likely scenario, but in nearly every case there are surprises. No one likes
surprises, especially the kind that cost money, and so I want you to know that the more
aggressive your stance in litigation, the more likely you will fight unexpected motions between
now and trial, and some of those motions may include requests for attorney's fees and costs
(also called sanctions) against you. This does not mean they are automatically granted, only
that it may be an issue you will find us fighting, and it is also possible there could be sanctions
against you, which would be included as part of the costs you will be billed for.
A commonly asked question is this: if I win, can I get attorney’s fees and costs? The answer is
usually, “No.” The reason is that in Washington, you only get attorney’s fees and costs in two
situations: 1) when you have a contract clause which would award fees and costs to the
prevailing party, and 2) when there is a state statute authorizing fees and costs (as in the
consumer protection act). In all other cases, the awarding of fees and costs is discretionary
with the judge, and judges rarely award fees and costs to a prevailing party.
In addition to my fees, you will be responsible for costs incurred along the way. The filing fee of
$110.00 is the first cost. Other costs include service of process fees, publication fees, postage
and copying, long distance phone charges or fax charges, title company fees (if necessary),
recording fees, and deposition costs. We may also need the services of an expert either
before and/or at trial, and experts typically charge by the hour. There may be other costs that
come up that I have not itemized here.
One factor that clients often discuss with me at about the mid-point of litigation is the very high
stress caused by litigation. I only mention this, because money and time are not the only
considerations. In deciding how far to go with litigation, stress is a significant factor.
Of course, no one goes into litigation unless they expect and hope to win, and I am sure that is
true with you. I will do everything I can to see that you do win. The reason for this letter is not to
encourage you with false expectations, but to exhort you to carefully consider the “cost” of
litigation. I believe that my clients prefer full disclosure with no surprises later on. For that
reason, I have shared some of the difficulties of litigation and the possible costs so you will be
fully informed, at least as much as a letter can do this.
I hope this letter is helpful. It is an effort by me to convey a great deal of detailed legal
information to you without having to charge you for the time it would take to discuss these
matters in person. If you have any specific questions that you need answered, please call me
and we can talk about it.
I do have two web sites which you are welcome to use. One includes megabytes of free real
estate information, including selected statutes and case law. The other includes information
on estate planning. I also have email. The web site and email are another means of efficiently
communicating with clients. The web sites are located at [deleted here because no longer
hosted at these sites.] PLEASE RECOGNIZE AND BE FORWARNED that Internet experts have
said that email is not perfectly secure, that it is possible that someone could unethically or
illegally access email communications through email channels. I recommend that your email
to me include a title or subject such as "Attorney-Client Privileged Communication." In addition,
if you want to be more secure in your email communications with me, you can use a free
software program called "PGP." It is an email encryption program, which I have installed and
which would allow us to email to each other with encrypted email messages. Ordinarily, there
probably isn't a need for such communications, but you may want to consider it. I do not
guarantee Internet email privacy.
Client Outcome
If you could describe your desired outcome (end result or ultimate goal) in this whole situation,
what would it be in one or two or three sentences? (This will help me in understanding your
desires and preferences, and therefore it will help me focus on what is most important to you.)
