Law Practice Essentials

When withdrawing legal services, you must: 

• provide sufficient notice to the client;
• return client property to the client; 
• render a statement of account to your client; and 
• take steps to assist in transition and avoid harm to the client.

Your obligation to assist in transition includes cooperating with the new counsel to transfer the client’s complete file without delay, subject to your right to impose a solicitor’s lien for unpaid fees. 

Remember that you still have an obligation to preserve client confidentiality and, absent client consent, you may not disclose the reasons for your withdrawal in circumstances where the reason for withdrawal arose from confidential client communications.  

The above-noted obligations, as well as your obligations related to asserting a solicitor’s lien, are discussed in more detail in the sections that follow.