{"id":790,"date":"2011-02-18T14:11:43","date_gmt":"2011-02-18T19:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/blog_news\/?p=790"},"modified":"2019-09-15T20:27:36","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T00:27:36","slug":"retaining-an-attorney-or-a-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/2011\/02\/18\/retaining-an-attorney-or-a-lawyer\/","title":{"rendered":"Retaining an Attorney or a Lawyer in Tennessee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is &#8220;Retaining an Attorney&#8221; ?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most people have heard the term &#8220;<strong>retain a lawyer<\/strong>&#8221; or you need to &#8220;<strong>retain an attorney&#8221;.<\/strong>&nbsp; Unless you have had to actually engaged the services of an <strong>attorney or lawyer.&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;You probably are not sure what retaining an Attorney means. &nbsp;The term <strong>retain<\/strong> simply means to <strong>engage or hire<\/strong> an <a title=\"The Attorneys of Purple Law Firm, Chattanooga, Tennessee\" href=\"http:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">attorney<\/a> by a <strong>payment of a preliminary fee<\/strong>, a retainer fee. So retaining an attorney means to hire a lawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>[KGVID]https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/IMG_4542.mp4[\/KGVID]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is an attorney retainer fee?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2011\/10\/A56EB626-3B81-4267-BE97-2C7BEF4DCC9B-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3332\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Not all attorneys will charge a <strong>retainer fee<\/strong>, and certainly the <strong>retainer fees will vary between lawyers<\/strong>.&nbsp; But, in general, a retainer is an upfront deposit of the attorney&#8217;s fee which <strong>ensures<\/strong> the <strong>attorney<\/strong> that he or she <strong>will be paid<\/strong> for the legal work performed.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"simplePullQuote right\"><p>Flexible <a href=\"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/2016\/01\/30\/chattanooga-attorney-payment-plans\/\">Payment<\/a> Plans Available<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p> The amount of the retainer fee also is heavily dependent upon the type of case and the complexity involved.&nbsp; Most attorneys will set the retainer fee based upon the estimated time involved in the case. &nbsp;Of course this is not scientific.&nbsp; It is quite common for the fees to exceed the initial retainer. Before retaining an attorney, &nbsp;be sure you understand the fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another factor which is used in calculating a <strong>lawyer&#8217;s retainer fee<\/strong> is the reservation of the attorney&#8217;s time.&nbsp; A <strong>lawyer<\/strong> typically lives by the calendar.&nbsp; In the <strong>practice of law<\/strong>, the attorney has two things that are considered stock in trade: expertise, and time.&nbsp; If you <strong>hire an attorney<\/strong> to take your case, there is less time for the lawyer for another case.&nbsp; So even if the attorney doesn&#8217;t do a large amount of work, the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">time reservation and commitment requires compensation<\/span>. Sometimes a person will retain an attorney to be there if and when needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Choosing the Right Lawyer<\/h3>\n\n\n<div class=\"simplePullQuote right\"><p>The decision to <strong>retain a lawyer<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;to represent you in any <strong>legal matter<\/strong> is very serious and should be considered very carefully. But when the issue involves such life altering circumstances like <a title=\"Divorce Attorneys \u2013 How to Choose the right lawyer\" href=\"http:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/2011\/02\/25\/divorce-attorneys-choose-theright-lawyer\/\">getting a divorce<\/a>, <a title=\"Chattanooga Bankruptcy Attorneys \u2013 Choosing the Right Attorney\" href=\"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/2010\/08\/14\/how-do-you-adopt-a-child-in-tennessee\/\">adopting a child<\/a> or being <a title=\"Criminal Defense: Choosing An Attorney to Defend Your Rights\" href=\"http:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/2011\/04\/03\/chattanooga-criminal-defense-choosing-an-attorney\/\">charged with a crime<\/a>, your choice of an attorney to represent you is even more important. Before retaining an Attorney ask these questions and discuss any concerns you may have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>[KGVID]https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2011\/02\/IMG_4602.mp4[\/KGVID]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember, however, that most <strong>attorneys<\/strong> will not be able to quote you a specific retainer before being able to analyze the case.&nbsp; So it is advisable to <a href=\"http:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/contact-purple-law-firm\/\">set a consultation appointment<\/a> with a <strong>lawyer<\/strong> (often times no cost) in order to get an accurate quote of the retainer and attorney fees involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is &#8220;Retaining an Attorney&#8221; ? Most people have heard the term &#8220;retain a lawyer&#8221; or you need to &#8220;retain an attorney&#8221;.&nbsp; Unless you have had to actually engaged the services of an attorney or lawyer.&nbsp;&nbsp;You probably are not sure what retaining an Attorney means. &nbsp;The term retain simply means to engage or hire an attorney by a payment of a preliminary fee, a retainer fee. So retaining an attorney means to hire a lawyer. What is an attorney retainer fee? Not all attorneys will charge a retainer fee, and certainly the retainer fees will vary between lawyers.&nbsp; But, in general, a retainer is an<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/2011\/02\/18\/retaining-an-attorney-or-a-lawyer\/\">Read More &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,17,20,21,26,30],"tags":[53,112,136,220,229,290],"yst_prominent_words":[386,1675,1678,1679,1673,1545,813,361,1680,1677,1672,2207,1674,1670,1676,1671,910,2208,464,2209],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-790","6":"format-standard","7":"category-chattanooga-criminal-defense-attorneys","8":"category-domestic-relations-attorneys","9":"category-family-law-attorneys","10":"category-featured-legal-articles","11":"category-legal-terms","12":"category-tennessee-divorce-attorney","13":"post_tag-attorney-at-law","14":"post_tag-criminal-law-tennessee","15":"post_tag-divorce-lawyer","16":"post_tag-lawyer-legal-professional","17":"post_tag-legal-fees","18":"post_tag-retainer-fee"},"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Todd Couvillon","author_link":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"hoot-small-preview":false,"hoot-large-preview":false,"hoot-medium-preview":false,"hoot-wide":false,"hoot-extra-wide":false,"hoot-boxcontent":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Todd Couvillon","author_link":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":3,"uagb_excerpt":"What is &#8220;Retaining an Attorney&#8221; ? Most people have heard the term &#8220;retain a lawyer&#8221; or you need to &#8220;retain an attorney&#8221;.&nbsp; Unless you have had to actually engaged the services of an attorney or lawyer.&nbsp;&nbsp;You probably are not sure what retaining an Attorney means. &nbsp;The term retain simply means to engage or hire an&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}