Jmariep -- wife of one, mother of five, grandmother of fifteen
Can an attorney decide to charge a fee for a fact-finding consultation?
The understanding was that the initial consultation was free. We needed to see if this attorney handled what we needed and then we'd make a decision as to whether we would use this attorney or look further. We took a list of questions from the internet to help us decide. We stated that we would make our decision after leaving and talking things over. Before we left, we asked how fees were charged. The reply was that we hadn't hired her yet. We asked that if we did hire her, how would the fees be charged? We we're told $125 per hour and a timer would be used. There was no timer and she didn't do anything for us.
We received a bill for $200. There was no misunderstanding with regard to what we were doing. We received no advice or council from her whatsoever—only that she said she could handle our situation if we decided to hire her.
