Legal fees: Three (3) important principles of professional responsibility

Attorneys segregate client funds and property from their own. This requirement protects client property from
attorneys' creditors and from abuse by the attorneys themselves.
Second, we explained that an attorney may treat advance funds or other property submitted by the client in
exchange for legal services or other benefits only when the attorney performs those services or confers the
benefits. We agree with the Iowa Supreme Court that an attorney cannot earn a fee for doing nothing.
Third, we stated that attorneys cannot characterize fees as "non-refundable" because an attorney's fees are
always subject to refund if they are excessive or unearned and such a characterization misinforms a client
and may discourage a client from seeking refunds to which he is entitled. [citation omitted]
Basic principles
An attorney earns a fee only when the attorney provides a benefit or service to the client.
A lawyer cannot charge a fee for doing nothing.
All client funds—including engagement retainers, advance fees, flat fees, lump sum fees, etc.—must be held
in trust until there is a basis on which to conclude that the attorney "earned" the fee, otherwise, the funds
must remain in the client’s trust account because they are not the attorney's property.

Primary characteristics which distinguish the legal profession from business

1. A duty of public service, of which the emolument is a byproduct, and in which one may attain the highest
eminence without making much money.
2. A relation as an "officer of court" to the administration of justice involving thorough sincerity, integrity,
and reliability.
3. A relation to clients in the highest degree fiduciary.
4. A relation to colleagues at the bar characterized by candor, fairness, and unwillingness to resort to current
business methods of advertising and encroachment on their practice, or dealing directly with their
clients.

CANON 20 - A LAWYER SHALL CHARGE ONLY FAIR