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Depends on the wording in your contract. Refusing to follow legal advice can be grounds for termination.
After getting burned by a client in just such a scenario, about 18-months ago, we modified our contingency fee agreements. There new paragraph states that if a reasonable offer is presented by the defense, the firm advises accepting it, and the client declines the offer in contravention of legal advice, the fee agreement transitions to an hourly fee agreement. Clients are then obligated to pay a $10,000 retainer and all hard costs expended on their behalf within 30-days. If the client does not pay, they are obligated to locate a new attorney by the end of the 30-days or accept the offer.
One alternative I got in law school was from our professor. A lawyer he knew would include the following (paraphrased here) in his initial consultation: “This is your first / second / tenth divorce / personal injury case, but I have been doing this for ___-years and this is my ___th case like this. You don’t know what I know, you hired me for my knowledge, and I’m in charge.”
One last methodology: the cup of coffee office discussion with a white board. That is when I would sit down a client and sketch out the money. The discussion begins by the client providing their rock-bottom number that will accept. That goes on the left side of the board. The right side of the board gets the number being offered. Tell them that the other side will regard it as malpractice to NOT appeal any jury verdict. With the appeal, it means it will be two more years before any money gets into their pocket and the firm will be taking 50%, not 33.3%. The hard costs are presently only $10k, but at trial those hard costs will be $50k. The hard costs for the appeal will another $10 - 20k in accrued interest on the funds expended on the clients’ behalf plus transcripts, printing, and financial costs of the appeal. After 30-minutes, most clients realize they are gambling on netting $5,000 more by waiting two years instead of taking the reasonable offer right now. After those meetings, on several occasions I have been successful going back to opposing counsel, telling them I can get the client to accept if they increase the offer by a few dollars more, and closing out the case.
Hope this helps a little bit. Good Luck~~
Judicial settlement conference. Judge will tell them.
We do not have that in the rules in Indiana and some judges will do it. The others will not themselves, as they do not want to obtain specific knowledge of settlement matters if the case does go to trial, but will not prevent you from seeking out another judge in the same county to do it. May be worth asking around to some judges.
Get everything in writing. Immediately
Write them a letter with your advice spelll out the downsides of trial , costs, possibly paying defendants costs if they made a formal offer of settlement etc and have then sign they u derstand. Also get the balance of costs owed to date and costs needed to go to trial. If they don’t pay refuse to lay out any more money and withdraw. Here u will enjoy an attys lien. Good luck to them getting new counsel at that point
Have a judge tell them by taking it to trial. I do it all the time here in insurance defense for claims’ sake. 🙃
I agree with this from a plaintiff side as well. I do try to show the client why it makes more sense to accept the offer, but if they want to be stubborn that's fine, I'll take it to trial. Usually actually the client approaches me later and changes their mind and decides to settle. But even if they don't, that means I get valuable trial experience. And if I've adequately explained the risks and potential outcomes of trial to the client and they're the ones who insisted on taking the risk, then I don't feel too bad if things don't end up going our way either.
Go to mediation with a mediator who is a former judge and let the mediator know your predicament.
Do a focus group or mock trial. You can do one yourself advertising for jurors or from local unemployment office. I have had really good luck with this method. Client needs to hear what others think. Another method is to video a direct/cross and let them and other family members watch. Some clients think trial is like shooting fish in a barrel. These methods help give perspective.
My old firm had their fee agreement crafted in a way so that once the client became uncooperative they’d tell them they would stop advancing costs for the case and would continue to litigate the case so long as the client advance the costs. Otherwise they would seek to terminate the relationship.
I agree with those that advise to sit down and have an in depth conversation and whiteboard the scenarios. Some clients are driven by $$$$. Others are driven by principle. Those driven by money are certainly easier to persuade than those by principle.
At the end of the day, you have obligations to your client - including a fiduciary one. If you just do not see how you can possibly make it financially beneficial for them to go to trial, then I think you are well within your rights to withdraw. I see nothing wrong with getting as good of an offer as you can on the table, withdrawing, and asserting a lien in the amount of whatever the fee would have been on that best offer that your work received (unless, of course, your jurisdiction does not allow you to do this).
If you need a nurse paralegal to help let me know. Medical malpractice especial in wound care could help and also accidents. I know the cost of after care
I would set down and find out their concerns and feelings. Then work together on what is best for them. That should be the plan from the beginning. Your client is like a doctors patient and both need to know the plan before the procedure