Two-way communication is very important in a lawyer-client relationship. Many of our lawyers communicate by email or phone. Regular contact with you is critical in order to provide updates on your matter and obtain your further instructions. It is our goal to respond to client emails or phone calls within 1-2 business days, where applicable. We ask that our clients also respond to our emails or phone calls in a timely fashion. If we do not receive instructions from you on a matter, we are unable to continue to provide legal services on your behalf.

Certain communications between attorney and client are absolutely confidential. This is known as "attorney-client privilege." Because of it, you can give your lawyer all of the facts relevant to your matter without fear that prejudicial information will become public. Not all attorney-client communications are privileged. The privilege only arises when the client reveals information in confidence to obtain legal advice or services. Information that you give your lawyer that is not privileged is instead treated as confidential, and, as such, may be disclosed in certain circumstances. The North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct outline the limited circumstances in which confidential information may be disclosed.

To retain a lawyer at R.L. Scott means to hire a lawyer to assist you with your legal matter. There are two parts to hiring a lawyer: a retainer letter and the payment of a retainer. Once we have been retained by you, we will provide you with a retainer letter that sets out the matter on which you have sought our services and details of the attorney-client relationship. This includes how you will be charged for legal services, forms of communication with you, and assurance of confidentiality. Many lawyers may require the payment of a retainer before providing legal services. A retainer is essentially a down-payment on legal services, which is held in trust by our firm for you. As we perform legal services on your behalf and provide a statement of account for those services, we will draw down the retainer. Once it has been depleted, we may ask for an additional retainer if more work is required to be performed on your behalf. If your matter is resolved and there are still retainer funds being held in trust for you, the remaining funds will be returned to you.

Our statements of account are broken into three categories: legal fees, disbursements, and other charges. Legal fees are our charges for services and are subject to applicable taxes. Typically, legal fees are charged on an hourly rate or time basis. In determining the chargeable time for a matter, we include telephone calls, emails, meetings, preparation time, sending, receiving and reviewing correspondence, drafting documents, travel time, reviewing documents and files, research, court appearances, and all time spent in providing legal services to you on the matter. We will provide you with regular statements of account which will detail the services provided to you. Some legal services are provided at a flat-rate charge. Other services may be provided on a contingency basis, whereby our legal fee is a percentage of the amount, if any, recovered in the matter. Disbursements are payments we make to third parties for expenses incurred on your behalf. We incur these expenses as your agent. Some examples include courier charges, court filing fees, and expert witness fees. You will be responsible for paying our disbursements on your matter as well as applicable taxes. Other charges include charges for non-legal services, such as photocopying, printing, and special stationery costs.

We maintain a separate bank account for money we hold in trust for our clients, designated as a trust account. The North Carolina State Bar has strict standards for lawyers' trust accounts. Trust accounts are audited annually by a professional accountant, and the results of the audit are reported to the North Carolina State Bar. If applicable, interest on trust accounts is paid to the client.