Opinion ID: 1283348
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Scott Thompson

Text: On June 20, 2005, Scott Thompson retained Wintroub to represent him in a driving under the influence action. Approximately 2 weeks later, Thompson terminated Wintroub's representation. A written fee agreement signed by Thompson provided that he would pay Wintroub a $1,500 non-refundable flat fee, and Thompson had paid Wintroub that amount. After he terminated Wintroub's representation, Thompson requested a partial refund, and Wintroub stated he would look at the amount of time he spent on the matter. No amount of the fee was refunded to Thompson. The formal charges alleged that Wintroub's acts violated his oath of office as an attorney and Neb. Ct. R. of Prof. Cond. § 3-501.16(d), which provides that upon termination of representation, a lawyer shall refund any advance payment of fee or expense that has not been earned or incurred. Because Wintroub's acts occurred prior to September 1, 2005, however, the applicable disciplinary rule is actually Canon 2, DR 2-110(A)(3), [1] which provided that [a] lawyer who withdraws from employment shall refund promptly any part of a fee paid in advance that has not been earned. The two rules are substantially similar. The referee noted Wintroub testified that he met with Thompson twice, prepared for an administrative license revocation hearing, and prepared a motion. However, Wintroub's representation was terminated prior to the hearing, and Wintroub did not offer a copy of the motion he allegedly prepared as evidence. The referee found that Wintroub violated the disciplinary rule when he did not complete the representation of Thompson and did not refund any portion of the advance fee payment. In arriving at this conclusion, the referee found that Wintroub clearly received fees for work he did not do for Thompson.