Opinion ID: 1692119
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Fee Agreements

Text: Mary Elizabeth testified that during the course of her law practice she had her clients enter into a fee agreement that specifically identified Mantiply & Associates as the attorney employed to represent the client. She stated that Mallory was expected to use this fee agreement while he was working at Mantiply & Associates. However, on a number of occasions Mallory used a fee agreement he had generated, which identified M. Mallory Mantiply as the attorney being employed by the client pursuant to the agreement. Mary Elizabeth testified that Mallory did not request permission nor was he authorized to contract with a client using a fee agreement that identified him, rather than Mantiply & Associates, as the attorney being employed. Mallory testified that when he went to work for Mantiply & Associates, Mary Elizabeth did not have a fee agreement. He stated that he generated a fee agreement for both Mantiply & Associates and M. Mallory Mantiply and that he would use whichever [fee agreement] came up first. Nevertheless, Mallory testified that regardless of which fee agreement he used he would turn over to Mary Elizabeth the proceeds generated from the work he did on the clients' behalf.