Court Opinion

ID: 9619775
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:32:59.205669+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:45:25.378839
License: Public Domain

Fletcher, Presiding Justice,
concurring.
While I fully concur with the majority, I write to remind lawyers *275that their relationship with a client is one of special trust that requires complete fidelity. The relationship is unique because it is “ ‘founded in principle upon the elements of trust and confidence on the part of the client and of undivided loyalty and devotion on the part of the attorney.’ ”2 And, because it is the contract between lawyer and client that creates this unique relationship, lawyers must remember their fiduciary role when preparing the lawyer-client contract.
Decided March 2, 1998
Reconsideration denied April 2, 1998.
Greer, Klosik & Daugherty, Frank J. Klosik, John F. Daugherty, *276Robert J. McCune, pro se.
*275In the contract, the fee must be reasonable3 and the terms must not cause the lawyer’s professional judgment, exercised on behalf of his client, to “be affected by his own financial, business, property, or personal interests.”4 Additionally, after the contract is entered, circumstances may arise that cause a seemingly reasonable fee arrangement to, in fact, become an excessive fee. Such a situation may arise if the contract fixes the fee on the amount of the judgment and (1) the judgment is only partially collectible or (2) the judgment is challenged on appeal and prudence cries out for settlement. Under those circumstances, both professional and ethical obligations require reconsideration of the fee arrangement.
And, lastly, in order to deserve the public’s confidence, the lawyer must be willing to do what is fair and equitable, even if not required by the letter of the law. As the ethical considerations state, “A lawyer should be zealous in his efforts to avoid controversies over fees with clients and should attempt to resolve amicably any differences on the subject.”5
I am authorized to state that Justice Sears joins in this concurrence.
*276Richard D. C. Schrade, Jr., for appellees.

 AFLAC v. Williams, 264 Ga. 351, 353 (444 SE2d 314) (N.Y. 1994), quoting Demov, Morris, Levin & Shein v. Glantz, 428 NE2d 387, 389 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1981).

 See Georgia Code of Professional Responsibility EC 2-17 (“A lawyer should not charge more than a reasonable fee. . . . [A]n excessive charge abuses the professional relationship between the lawyer and client.”); see also id. DR 2-106 and Standard 31 of Bar Rule 4-102 (d), which provides:
(a) A lawyer shall not enter into an agreement for, charge, or collect an illegal or clearly excessive fee.
(b) A fee is clearly excessive when, after a review of the facts, a lawyer of ordinary prudence would be left with a definite and firm conviction that the fee is in excess of a reasonable fee.”

 See id. EC 5-1, EC 5-7, Standard 30.

 Id. EC 2-23.