Private charges [case negotiation stage]

When lawyers take on cases, they often encounter situations where the client proposes to pay the lawyer directly without signing a contract with the law firm in order to avoid paying less fees. Some lawyers do this to avoid the law firm deducting management fees or not paying the lawyer. For the purpose of paying taxes, and then agree to the client’s proposal.

It is illegal for a lawyer to accept a commission without permission and charge fees without permission. Facing administrative penalties and tax liability, and may be suspected of job embezzlement. In addition, if a lawyer charges privately, if a dispute occurs, it does not fall within the risk liability scope of the lawyer's professional liability insurance. Therefore, when a lawyer accepts an entrustment, he should sign a written entrustment contract with the client in accordance with regulations. Both his firm and the lawyer should put an end to private fees and private cases, and avoid unnecessary disputes and invalid contracts based on illegal acts.

In fact, clients' complaints and disputes and industry disciplinary sanctions caused by lawyers' private fees do exist, and we must not take any chances.

To sum up, when a lawyer encounters a client who proposes to charge private fees in practice, he should clearly refuse and inform the client of the illegal nature of the corresponding behavior, and recommend that the client sign a formal entrustment contract with the law firm. If a client transfers funds to a lawyer's personal account for convenience, the lawyer should immediately transfer the funds to the firm's account and truthfully credit the money into the account.

The above is based on Article 40 of the Lawyers Law of the People's Republic of China :

Lawyers shall not engage in the following conduct in their professional activities : ( 1 ) Accepting entrustments , collecting fees , or accepting property or other benefits from clients without permission.