Fraud, Embezzlement, Bad Checks full payment of fees in advance?

[sacrificialgoat3]

Do all criminal lawyers require full payment of fees in advance before they render any service?
Why is that?
Are they forbidden by some law to do otherwise,to for example be paid an initial retainer and then for services rendered as they are provided?
I have heard from incarcerated people of too many instances in which their attorneys took their money and literally absconded with the fee,which was in reality a full payment for services promised,but then did not perform as they promised or said they would.
How can a person protect himself against that type of situation or from not receiving all the services verbally agreed to or promised by the attorney?
Please do not tell me that a defrauded client can always recurr to the Bar Association.I wonder if there is some other solution to that problem.
Thank you for you answers.

 

[disagreeable]

Some attorneys require a flat fee for representation. Others just a retainer. Some will take certain cases on a percentage.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Please do not tell me that a defrauded client can always recurr to the Bar Association.I wonder if there is some other solution to that problem.

This type of attorney fraud is no different than any other except that there is an additional remedy that isn't available with other professions that don't have a formal body that makes it easier to lodge a complaint and have an unscrupulous person lose the way they earn a living. A victim can always go to court. But in this instance you have the bar association which is not going to be happy that an attorney has stolen a client's money. You may want to believe that all attorneys stick together and defend each other. This could not be further from the truth. Should stories come out that the bar association protects attorneys from stealing money placed in a retainer agreement, the profession then has problems with getting the retainers attorneys need to survive.

What you're describing is against the law and could constitute criminal conduct and fraud - you did use the word "defraud" right? A district attorney might be interested in prosecuting such an offender as well. It's no different than doctors who don't care to have other medical practitioners who commit serious ethical violations and cause a distrust of other doctors within the community. If you have a problem with an attorney that is serious in nature and cannot be remedied, the bar association is available to you to help as another avenue in addition to the judicial system.