ETHICS
| ETHICS OPINION
Maryland State Bar Association, Inc.
Committee on Ethics MSBA ETHICS OPINION 2020-01
SUBSCRIPTION PLANS FOR LEGAL SERVICES
AS A SMALL FIRM practitioner rep-
resenting businesses and their owners, you have requested an opinion on the propriety of offering your clients a periodic “subscription” for clients who envision the need for legal services and would find it helpful to secure the availability of counsel in a cost-effective manner. Following what you see as a trend toward “subscription” plans in other industries, you would offer a package of legal services in exchange for a set monthly, quarterly or annual fee. Although you have yet to formulate the details of these plans, you would envision
writing a certain number of letters, reviewing a certain number of documents or taking a certain number of telephone calls as part of the “package.” Should clients require work beyond the scope of their plans, you would bill for these services at a specified hourly rate under a separate retainer agreement. You ask our opinion on whether such fees must be placed into your client trust account, on the extent to which portions of this fee must be refunded to clients who do not avail themselves of your services, and on a dollar amount that would be considered “reasonable.”
To the extent that this arrangement guarantees your availability to serve the client, it incorporates elements of an “engagement fee.” An “engagement fee” is a fee for the attorney to accept a case, to be available to handle it, and not represent another party. See Docket Nos. 1993-20, 1993-24, and 1992-41. Originally used in a litigation context, engagement fees were once used to ensure an attorney’s availability by precluding the lawyer from representing an adversary. Unlike a retainer for actual legal advice and services, clients paid this fee to ensure that the lawyer refrain from working for anyone adverse to that client.
MARYLAND BAR JOURNAL | ISSUE 2 2020
149
