Getting a retainer up front basically reserves the lawyer’s services. The retainer is held in trust until earned, i.e., as you rack up billable hours and/or other expenses, you draw from the retainer. If it looks like you’ll go over the retainer, you request a bump in the retainer.
If you don’t have a retainer, and the other side or somebody else wants your services, there’s nothing stopping you from walking away.
I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve been an expert witness on retainer. I’m paid for expert advice, writing reports, testifying,etc. Once I hand over work product, I’ve lost a lot of leverage to get paid. I cerrtainly don’t want to have to go to court to get paid.
So an up front retainer protects both sides - the lawyer, who ensures up front they’ll be paid, and the client, who has some assurance you won’t walk away.
Any lawyer working for Donald Trump without a large upfront retainer is an idiot.
You can walk away and return the money because somebody offers you more money.
You are overthinking it to prove a point.
A retainer is just payment for services rendered (forgetting for a second that it a a complete misnomer since the retainer is actually the contract not the payment) and its existence doesn’t stop you. Ethics rules do.
If you (as a lawyer) are in a lawyer-client relationship with a client, you have an ethical duty to your client that isn’t negated if they don’t pay you, retainer or not. You can’t just flip to the other side.
As for walking away and firing a client - you can do that with a retainer in place, too (as long as you’re on track with the other ethical requirements in doing so).
No surprise with the polls but November is still some months off.
I personally dont put a lot of stock in polls, never have and my posting history shows that. People lie, change their mind etc. i get the whole “science” behind polls but human beings are fickle. I do accept polls can sway people for example if a poll shows a candidate with a massive lead that could result in supporters being lazy on election day and thinking no need to vote.
If he does lose I know that the shouts of fraud will be followed by “the polls showed Trump in front” how could he lose.
Hey! Well there’s a face (or at least a screen name) that brings a smile!
We are missing SolidSound for the first time. Traveling to a bug sporting event for our kid instead. Frustrating, but we’ll survive. The lineup this year is a dream for me.