My small business lawyer asked for a retainer of 3500$ to file incorporation papers and help create a partnership. As is standard and in most retainer agreements, my business partner and I were told that we would be notified if we incurred additional expenses on a monthly basis and that the firm would obtain instructions from us before they went any further should the retainer deplete. This was in June. Today, they sent us a bill totalling almost 10 thousand - 6500$ in additional fees for emails and a handful (three) zoom calls negotiating terms with NO knowledge or instruction to us letting us know we owed more money. How can we proceed? We cannot afford this, it will likely put us under.
I’d like to hear 2 things before passing judgement:
Arranging a business partnership could, under the right circumstances, be complicated. If there are fees for incorporating your org and filing with the state and for an EIN, it’s not inconceivable that the bill went into a few thousand dollars.
A retainer for $3500 on a simple partnership organization would have been the first warning sign. So either you’re a mark and got taken or it’s more complicated than you’re intimating.
Trying not to pay your attorney is going to be difficult, btw. They have all the resources to get a judgement against you.
You should, as another person said, let them know a correction needs to be made for the unauthorized charges. Get an itemized bill whether it was or was not, then proceed from that point.
I would think a simple agreement plus all filings would run $2000-3000. Even the retainer was too much if you ask me.