Practicing With Professionalism - South Carolina Bar Association

·obtained in that lawsuit. It is perfected by filing a lien with the clerk of
the court in which the lawsuit was filed. C.R.S. §12-5-119. See People
)1. Sather, 936 P.2d 576 (Colo. 1997). (Attorney was held to have
charged an unreasonable fee where he filed attorney's liens after
discharge by two clients, charged $200 per hour for the services of a
young associate who had just been admitted to practice, increased ten
entries ofthe associate's time, and charged $200 an hour for the associate
to pick up a police report.) (suspension, 30 days);
2. A client must owe an attorney a general balance ofcompensation to make
a retaining lien appropriate upon client's papers in the attorney's
possession. C.R.S. § 12-5-120.
a. "An attorney may ethically assert a retammg lien on a client's
papers, thereby keeping the papers, when the client is financially
able to pay outstanding fees, but fails or refuses to do so." CBA
Ethics Opinion 82, Assertion of Attorney's Retaining Lien on
Client's Papers. The opinion discusses circumstances under which
the attorney may not assert a lien. Since the opinion was written,
C.R.S. 12-5-120 has been amended and therefore attorneys should
carefully review the statute and the opinion.
b. A violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct occurs if a lien is
asserted without statutory or legal foundation:
(l) People v. Mills, 861 P.2d 708 (Colo. 1993). (Because the
client owed fees to attorney for services in other legal matters,
attorney improperly asserted a charging lien over client's
portion of estate proceeds when a retaining lien would have
been appropriate.) (public censure);
(2) People v. Brown, 840 P.2d 1085 (Colo. 1992). (Attorney
improperly asserted a retaining lien over documents which did
not belong to his client, improperly failed to return the
documents, and billed the client for the cost of defending the
grievance proceeding against him.) (public censure); and
(3) People v. Smith, 830 P.2d 1003 (Colo. 1992). (Attorney
discharged by the client for his neglectful handling of a
dissolution of marriage temporary orders hearing, initially
failed to release the files to client's new attorney. Attorney"
then filed a notice of lien in the case and recorded a lien
against the client's marital residence which included any
portion of the value of the residence which may have been
allocated to the other party in the dissolution of marriage.
Attorney had not obtained a judgment against the client and
Professionalism eLE (2004)