Ethics Opinions
Iowa Supreme Court Board of Professional Ethics and Conduct




Date of Opinion: 03/08/2000

Opinion Number: 99-12

Title: FEES: APPEARANCE

Opinion: You ask the propriety of an agreement between yourself and potential criminal law clients. The agreement is designed to protect you when such clients fail to appear at court hearings set for their appearance. The proposed agreement is as follows:
“COURT ATTENDANCE POLICY

        You have retained me to represent you on a criminal case, and we have entered into a flat-fee agreement. Your fees will be held in my trust account until they are earned. The flat fee agreed upon is based upon our understanding that you will attend all court appearances as scheduled.

        When a court appearance is required, I will give you a copy of the order in person. I will also send you a letter confirming the date and time of the court appearance and providing you with an additional copy of the order. The letter will tell you when and where to meet me (usually outside the courtroom one-half hour before the hearing). When you fail to appear on time as scheduled, I will waste approximately one hour waiting for you and reporting to the court. We will have to appear an additional time to recall the warrant and reschedule the hearing. Then, we will have to attend the hearing originally scheduled as a new date. This requires me to expend several hours on your case unnecessarily. Those are hours not contemplated in our flat-fee agreement.

        In this case, I anticipate three (3) court appearances. If the case is resolved without trial, there probably will be an arraignment, a plea and a sentencing. If a trial is necessary, there will be an arraignment, a pretrial conference and the trial itself. I am requiring you to deposit one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00) in my trust account for each anticipated hearing for a total of four hundred fifty dollars ($450.00). At each scheduled hearing, I will bring a trust check for one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00). If you appear no later than the time of the hearing (which is one-half hour after our scheduled meeting time), I will make the check payable to you and give it to you. If you fail to appear by the time of the scheduled hearing, I will make it payable to me to compensate me for the additional wasted time. This will continue until the deposit is exhausted or the case is concluded. If any of the four hundred fifty dollars ($450.00) is remaining when the case is concluded, it will be refunded to you.

        Your signature below confirms your consent to this agreement.

        Date ____________

        Signature ____________________________”

It is the opinion of the Board that there is nothing in the Iowa Code of Professional Responsibility for Lawyers which would prevent such an agreement between you and proposed clients. The term “flat-fee” as used in your proposed request, is not to be considered as a non-returnable fee, See Formal Opinion 95-32 (1996). See also Board v. Apland 577 N.W.2d 50 (Iowa 1998).




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