One
of
the
basic
facts
about
the
legal
profession
is
that
clients
often
do
not
pay
their
lawyers
for
the
work
attorneys
perform.
Even
in
law
school,
professors
of
mine
who
had
experience
in
practice
would
tell
students
stories
about
how
clients
had
stiffed
them
over
the
years,
and
one
professor
said
the
most
important
thing
you
might
learn
in
law
school
from
that
professor
was
to
always
get
your
fee
up
front.
From
my
own
experience,
clients
are
most
likely
to
not
pay
their
last
invoices,
and
attorneys
can
take
a
few
steps
to
minimize
the
chance
that
their
last
invoice
or
two
will
be
left
unpaid.
Final
invoices
are
the
most
likely
to
remain
unpaid
for
a
few
reasons.
Clients
may
believe
that
they
do
not
need
a
lawyer
after
a
matter
resolves,
and
accordingly,
feel
empowered
to
forgo
paying
that
final
invoice
without
consequences.
Moreover,
clients
may
not
be
satisfied
with
how
a
matter
resolved,
and
this
may
convince
the
client
not
to
pay
remaining
balances
owed
to
lawyers.
Some
clients
need
to
make
payments
as
part
of
the
settlement
of
a
matter
and
might
not
have
too
much
money
left
over
afterward
to
pay
their
counsel.
The
biggest
way
lawyers
can
prevent
clients
from
stiffing
them
at
the
end
of
a
matter
is
to
stay
current
on
billing
throughout
a
representation.
Some
lawyers
do
not
bill
clients
as
regularly
as
they
should,
and
other
lawyers
do
not
insist
on
regular
payments
as
often
as
they
should.
As
a
result,
clients
may
rack
up
huge
balances
at
the
end
of
a
representation.
From
my
own
experience,
the
bigger
the
invoice,
the
less
likely
it
will
be
paid.
I
once
heard
about
a
lawyer
who
had
a
client
who
insisted
he
could
not
pay
his
bills
but
related
that
he
would
pay
the
bill
after
the
matter
settled
or
once
the
client
received
money
at
a
later
time.
The
client
racked
up
hundreds
of
thousands
of
dollars’
worth
of
legal
fees,
and
the
client
ended
up
losing
at
trial.
The
client
never
paid
his
attorney,
and
the
lawyer
was
left
in
the
lurch
with
outstanding
invoices
worth
hundreds
of
thousands
of
dollars.
If
the
lawyer
had
demanded
payment
earlier,
or
withdrew
from
the
representation,
it
is
likely
that
the
lawyer
would
have
taken
less
of
a
hit
from
the
client.
Another
way
lawyers
can
safeguard
themselves
from
being
stiffed
at
the
end
of
a
matter
is
by
asking
the
client
to
pay
them
out
of
settlement
funds.
Oftentimes,
settlements
require
one
party
to
make
payment
to
the
attorney
trust
account
of
another
party,
and
once
receipt
of
the
funds
is
confirmed,
the
litigation
is
discontinued.
For
the
sake
of
convenience,
settlement
agreements
can
be
written
such
that
the
lawyer
will
take
outstanding
legal
fees
from
this
settlement
amount
and
disburse
the
rest
to
the
client.
This
process
is
especially
favored
when
the
lawyer
needs
to
disburse
settlement
money
to
pay
off
liens
or
other
items
incidental
to
the
settlement
of
a
case.
Of
course,
lawyers
should
check
their
local
ethics
rules
about
this
approach.
However,
with
the
consent
of
all
parties
involved
in
the
settlement,
this
can
be
the
easiest
approach
to
ensure
that
a
lawyer
gets
paid.
Another
way
to
ensure
lawyers
are
paid
from
their
final
invoices
on
a
matter
is
to
maintain
a
connection
to
the
client
and
keep
performing
legal
work
for
the
client.
In
general,
clients
are
less
likely
to
stiff
lawyers
if
they
know
they
are
going
to
rely
on
the
lawyer
in
the
future
for
other
legal
matters.
Of
course,
this
approach
only
works
for
some
kinds
of
clients,
and
lawyers
may
want
to
dump
clients
after
a
legal
representation
concluded
for
a
variety
of
reasons.
However,
clients
are
far
less
likely
to
stiff
lawyers
they
have
a
deeper
connection
to
because
they
would
probably
feel
guilty
about
not
paying
invoices
to
people
they
know
on
a
more
meaningful
level
that
they
expect
to
rely
on
more
in
the
future.
In
the
end,
being
stiffed
by
clients
is
probably
unavoidable,
and
every
lawyer
has
horror
stories
about
their
invoices
remaining
unpaid.
However,
a
few
strategies
can
help
lawyers
get
paid
on
their
final
invoices.
Jordan
Rothman
is
a
partner
of
The
Rothman
Law
Firm,
a
full-service
New
York
and
New
Jersey
law
firm.
He
is
also
the
founder
of
Student
Debt
Diaries,
a
website
discussing
how
he
paid
off
his
student
loans.
You
can
reach
Jordan
through
email
at
[email protected].