Changing Lawyers on a Contingency Fee Injury Case

Attorney Answer

You can change lawyers — a client may end the relationship at any time, and you do not need the firm's permission. What you cannot count on is leaving the first firm's fee behind. A Texas contingency-fee lawyer discharged without good cause before the work is done can collect the fee the contract sets, out of whatever you later recover, so changing lawyers can mean two fees come out of one recovery. That is the honest answer, and it is why the second lawyer you talk to will want to see your contract before agreeing to anything.

Two things drive it. The first is your written agreement: what it says about discharge, withdrawal, expenses already spent and how a fee is calculated if the case ends before a recovery. Read that section before you do anything else, because the firm will. The second is why you are leaving. The Supreme Court of Texas held in Mandell & Wright v. Thomas, 441 S.W.2d 841 (Tex. 1969), that a client who discharges a contingency-fee lawyer without good cause before the work is complete can owe the compensation the contract sets, not merely the value of the work done so far. In Hoover Slovacek LLP v. Walton, 206 S.W.3d 557 (Tex. 2006), the court restated that a lawyer fired without cause may take either that fee, collected from any damages the client later recovers, or the reasonable value of the work, and it struck down a fee-agreement term that required the client, on firing the firm, to pay at once the firm's percentage of what the claim was then worth. Whether never hearing from your lawyer is good cause depends on the facts, and it is the first question to put to a new lawyer with your file and contract in hand.

Your other complaint is separate from the fee and is worth taking seriously on its own. Never having spoken to the lawyer handling your case, and not knowing what has been done, is not a normal state of affairs. Ask for it in writing before you decide anything: a written status update, and a copy of your file. You are entitled to know what is happening in your own case, and a firm's response to that request tells you most of what you need to know about whether to stay.

What you can do

1. Read your fee agreement, especially any paragraph about discharge, withdrawal, expenses, or what happens if you hire someone else. Keep a copy.

2. Email the firm and ask, in writing, for a status update and for a copy of your complete file, including any offer that has been made. Ask to speak with the attorney of record, by name.

3. Note the date you sent it. If nothing comes back, that record matters later.

4. Talk to another injury lawyer before you sign anything new, and bring the fee agreement to that meeting. Ask directly how the first firm's fee claim would be handled and whether you would owe anything separately.

5. Ask any new firm to put the fee arrangement — including how the earlier firm is dealt with — in writing before you sign.

6. If the real dispute turns out to be about the fee itself, ask the State Bar of Texas about its fee dispute resolution program, which handles fee disagreements between clients and attorneys.

7. Do not let the change stall your underlying claim. Deadlines keep running while you switch firms, and a gap between lawyers is where cases get hurt.

Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. The injury claim behind this is ordinarily governed by Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a), which requires a personal injury suit within two years after the day the cause of action accrues. Your own deadline depends on your facts and on whether suit has already been filed — ask the firm in writing whether it has, and have a Texas attorney confirm where you stand. Changing lawyers does not pause anything.