Client files ethics complaint citing:
legal ethics | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
and
legal ethics | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
Lawyer probably gets the ethics complaint dismissed or just agrees to drop the fee, having already provided a 10 page summary and copy of the entire file to the ethics board. Cost to lawyer in time lost responding to charge and increased malpractice premium: Priceless. 
Nice try CiteFactor. The fact of the matter is that an attorney is not the clients employee. Sure I have to keep him reasonably informed and I will do so. But nothing says I have to provide a 2-5 page written report on demand. If a client requests work that is not contemplated in the original contract he is required to pay for it.
Out of curiosity Gfactor, have you ever actually practiced law where you were responsible for generating revenue developing clients and your own billing?
Absolutely.
Like I said, you’d probably ultimately win with the ethics board. Good luck.
Oh so you’re not claiming that the fee structure I set out was in fact unconscionable just that some whiny ass client who thinks I work for him may file an unfounded complaint with the bar. Sure that’s why I would be one of the attorneys who told him to fuck off rather than allow him to try to dictate unreasonable terms.
In a personal injury claim the client comes to the attorney and puts no money down they pay nothing and are not entitled to demand anything other than what the code of ethics requires of all attorneys.
Want a copy of your file? Sure it is yours you can either come pick it up and copy it yourself or you can pay me to copy it for you. Want a status report I am happy to give you an update and provide copies of any demand letters arbitration/ mediation briefs. Want me to take a few hours of my and my staffs time to generate a book report just because you want one? Pay the fee.
Res ipsa loquitur.* 
Why yes, yes it does. Which is why I wondered why you posted your cite that only muddied the issue. Which I thought was whether a client in a contingency fee case has a right to make unreasonable demands. Not whether some clients will make unfounded complaints to the state bar.
I don’t think that I’ve ever prepared a 2 to 5 page report for a client, but if I did, I would certainly bill for the time spent after informing my client that I would.
However, the rest of this time sounds pretty unreasonable on the face of it, and could lead to a bar complaint.
That being said, an attorney has an ethical duty to keep the client informed as to what is going on. LouisB should call over to his attorney’s office and ask them what is going on.
I’m not familiar with Florida procedure, but how quickly do cases go from the original filed Complaint to trial. In the counties in Virginia that I practice in, they generally take about 1 year. Some courts here are notorious for making you set a trial date within one year of the date that the Complaint is filed, and good luck to you if you had trouble getting service of process.
LouisB, has any discovery taken place in your case? Have you had to answer any interrogatories or any document production requests? Have any depositions taken place?
I would ask your attorney or someone from his office what is going on. I try my best to keep the client informed as to what is happening and I try to give them an overview of the trial process so that I don’t have to deal with a client who is freaked out because they don’t understand why they have to turn over any documents, or answer any questions.
This is a joke, right? “Messenger copy to client”? It may have escaped your notice that LouisB is in Texas. Good luck justifying that messenger fee to the ethics board.
Billing 1 hour for a five minute conversation? In personal injury?
Of course not. However, if you failed to offer your client any written notification of the status of his claim for two years you probably wouldn’t find it such an unreasonable request.
It is Morgan & Morgan, by the way, LB?
I will concede that the secretarial time is unreasonable and generally not billable to the client but my time is and my paralegals time is and so are my expenses. In my hypothetical case with my hypothetical client I claimed three attorney hours and three paralegal hours at the actual going rate in my area. Do you know how big my hypothetical file is and how many pages of doctors reports and nurses notes and don’t forget chiropractor bills there are always chiropractor bills in PI cases. As for the hypothetical messenger fee you can assume I got a hypothetical receipt and that my hypothetical client wanted it that day but wouldn’t come get it. I figure it was more ethical to messenger it over for a c-note rather than drive it over myself and bill him for two more hours of my time…(because his hypothetical ranch is two hours from my hypothetical office) (do you see where I’m going here?)
Bottom line is it was merely to illustrate a point. Of course an attorney should keep his client advised and informed of his case and of course he should communicate with his client but a client still has no right to march in and demand a specific task that is not part of the contingency agreement like a 5 page written report. If he wants that he will damn well pay for it.
Apparently my attorney presented the enemy with a letter or list of demands, including a demand for half a million bucks, since that is the amount of insurance their client carried. I believe my wife asked for a copy of this list and was told “you don’t need it.” I will say that at the time this comment was made, the paralegal handling my case was the attorney’s wife; I now have a new paralegal with whom I talk. I have had three so far, the first of whom was a long term employee of the firm. I called to speak to her one morning and was told, in a very hushed voice, that she was no longer employed there. The wife of the attorney was assigned to my case or vice versa and as of now, I’m dealing with yet another paralegal. I sometimes wonder if pandemonium reigns within my chosen law firm. Anyway, this last paralegal called about a month ago and told me my attorney was “going to put my case in litigation” and that I should be prepared to receive a barrage of interrogatories, which the firm would assist me in answering. Nothing since then; I really should drive by the firm’s office and see if a “For Sale” sign is out front.
I’ve been lax in asking for updates; the firm hasn’t volunteered any and I’m kind of tired of the hassle involved in playing phone tag with “my” paralegal. Although she is forthright and forthcoming when I ask her questions.
I’m confused by some of the comments up thread. I had thought that “my” attorney did in fact “work for me.” I’m using the generic “my” and “me.” So what’s up with that?
In fact, I am in Florida, if it makes a difference.
Oops. Did you never leave, or did you come back?
Not advice exactly but your attitude towards dumb ass clients plays into all the jokes about how evil the bottom dwelling lawyers are. From your post, I guess you would shaft the client instead of explaining to him that the items you gleefully list would cost him extra and that if he didn’t like it, fuck him; you’ll slap a lien on his case and laugh all the way to the bank. Is that about it? Or am I missing something warm and personal in your little tirade?
Yeup, that’s your problem right there. Exactly how is this office supposed to know to whom you have deemed it appropriate to release confidential information?
I left Texas in 1963 and haven’t lived there since then. I have been back for a couple of brief visits and to change airplanes a few times. I have considered moving back when we officially retire but we ain’t done that yet. I’m still in Florida, waiting for my ship to come in.
No, you missed the insinuation that a lawyer should get fired for failing to provide services that are outside the scope of any reasonable representation of a client without further renumeration.
“Ask for a 2-5 page status report… If they refuse to do any of these things, find a new attorney.”
I’m sure I’d be treated very warmly at Home Depot if i asked them to provide, gratis of course, custom deck plans after I bought a few pressure-treated two-by-fours from them.
I would hope, then, that the attorney does not charge for keeping the client informed after they’ve won the case.
This would probably be OK:
And, by the way, if LouisB has said that his is a contingency case, I’ve missed it.
If it’s a personal injury, it’s going to be pretty much a correct inference that it’s a contingency case unless there are some really weird issues going on