attorney fee(RFE)

P

Poppi

Registered Users (C)
Hello,

I paid for my attorney fee about $ 6000 for EB1 application.
When I submitted it, he did not send the documents unless I DO pay all. So I did.

Unfortunately I got a RFE for my I-140. My attorney said it is normal to receive that kinds of RFE. And he asks me to pay $1000 plus consulting fee/hour($300). Do you guys think it is reasonable or not ?

I did not say anything about the RFE fee to him yet. But I do not know how to deal this case. Any comments are welcome.

What if I need to change that attorney ?
:mad:
 
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I think you've been had. Typically the arrangement is - you hire an attorney for the whole process - I-140, I-485 plus whatever RFE's may follow and you pay 1/3 up front, 1/3 when I-140 is filed and the balance when I-485 is filed. Also, I think $6k is an outrageous price for EB-1, I mean I do not know what the market prices are right now, but I started my EB-12 in Chicago 2 years ago and the whole thing cost me ca. $4.5k including all INS fees, so I doubt there was a significant hike in prices. Personally I think there's nothing you can do at this point but comply and pay the money, but being a vindictive person I would look into how bar looks at its members taking cases without signing a contract and report the bastard, even though from your description this whole thing is your own fault. In any case - good luck I hope it all works out for you - green card is more important than money.

This story brings up some important moments:

When hiring a lawyer sign a contract. Read it, make sure you understand what services are included, when the contract ends, what are the fees, what is the payment schedule. If in doubt take a contract with you, ask someone to help you to understand it.

Shop around. Lawyers will not let you know how much they'll charge for a particular service, but you at least can ask around and gauge what is an acceptable price. This goes for other things too - a person I know went to Chinatown and paid $400 or so in cash to some doctor to get his medical for AOS - "'cause everybody does that", well what do you know - the hospital across the road charged me $120.
 
Poppi,

I agree and I think you've been hoaxed. I don't know if changing a lawyer at this point is realistic or recommendable, unless your current lawyer is likely to ask more outrageous fees. As lamonte said, your GC is a way more important than a couple thousand bucks.

If this is any consolation, five years ago I volunatarily handed over $10,000 in cash to a couple of racketeers. You know, we learn from our mistakes.

do it rite

PS: lamonte, I need to hire a lawyer for my EB1/OR. Do you know a way to find good ones? What'd you think of Rajiv? Do you think I can find third-party opinions about him, or anybody for that matter?
 
Poppi,

If I understand correctly from your post and that of Lamonte, you do not have a written contract with your attorney.

In which case, you cannot do anything about it now.

If money is the ONLY issue but your attorney is very good, then I suggest that you should pay( I know its hard to for which your mind is not prepared) and continue his services.However, if you think/feel he has not done his job right, then take up your RFE matter with another attorney.

Normally,you can fire an attorney with or without cause.However, it is advisable to send atleast 7 day written notice to him so that he may pass on your case file to the new attorney( I believe it is professional ethics to do so).Incase you did not have a written contract,then I do not suppose you need to even bother about this written notice.

It is normal and in our favor as well, that an attorney charges extra for each RFE. IF you do not receive any RFE, you save!
Anyway, my attorney had made it quite clear that for each RFE the extra charges would be $1,000.00 depending upon the complexity.However, one should ALWAYS be skeptical about dealing with attorneys(money, money, money!,I guess you would hardly find an "ethical" attorney in money-matters:rolleyes:.)

Good Luck.
 
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Thanks for all comments.
Although I have a written contract, it said just $6000 for legal services. There is no statement regarding RFE.
It seems that we need to put those kind of statements in the contract. He said the contract does not show any statement regarding RFE, it means you should pay. It is a hidden charge.

Further comments are also welcome.

Poppi
 
Originally posted by Poppi
Thanks for all comments.
Although I have a written contract, it said just $6000 for legal services. There is no statement regarding RFE.
It seems that we need to put those kind of statements in the contract. He said the contract does not show any statement regarding RFE, it means you should pay. It is a hidden charge.

Poppi
Click to expand...

I still think he acted in bad faith. Since RFE's are common and almost everyone gets them he must have known that additional charges may ensue but conveniently forgot to mention it to you. It is especially true since he has training and experience, and knew the merits of the case. But you're right - the more details spelled out the safer you are.
 
Originally posted by doitrite
lamonte, I need to hire a lawyer for my EB1/OR. Do you know a way to find good ones? What'd you think of Rajiv? Do you think I can find third-party opinions about him, or anybody for that matter?
Click to expand...

I never used Rajiv's services, so I am not qualified to comment. When I needed a lawyer I went around (there're 200 postdocs in my department) and asked people - who did you hire, is he ok, how much, did you get approved (this is the most important one) ... It was pretty clear to me what to do after about the third person I spoke to. Since you're presumably somewhere on Harvard/MIT campus you can easily do the same thing. I am sure there's at least one attorney around who gets 99% of his business from Cambridge postdocs filing EB-1/2 and that's the guy you might want to look at.
 
Although I have a written contract, it said just $6000 for legal services. There is no statement regarding RFE.
Click to expand...

This is just a general statement and does not elaborate on the scope of the services covered.This is a HORRIBLE/WORST written contract coming from an attorney.:mad:

Talking about hidden charges,I bet he was a salesman for a credit card or a holiday resort company before venturing out into this field.

If you can,lodge a complaint with the local bar association.

Incase you already are not, make sure to correspond with him everything in writing(email,etc) which may be useful in future.

Your present attorney may deliberately not address the first RFE properly so that he can charge again for the subsequent RFEs.

As lamonte suggested, talk to people and find out the best possible attorney and try to hire him/her for dealing with your RFE and possibly avoid further RFEs.
 
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Originally posted by Poppi
... it said just $6000 for legal services. There is no statement regarding RFE. ...
Click to expand...

One would think RFE is a legal service, in a general sense, that an ordinary immigration lawyer provides for his/her client. Because the "legal services" is plural and Poppi's lawyer did not limit the scope of the legal services, one could argue that RFE "is" one of the legal services. Do I sound too lawyer-ish? :D

Just in case Poppi wants to sue the lawyer...

If not, you may want to maintain a certain level of relationship for the sake of GC. :mad:

Good luck!

do it rite
 
i will pay $3500 for EB1/OR (inc. all: family, I140/485. REF if received). $2K was paid, $1.5K will be paid after I140 approved. now I just got AP/EAD and waiting for I140 result
 
www.visalaw.com Greg Siskind

I really don't understand why people get ripped off - apart from the ethnic affinities, that is - go see Greg at www.visalaw.com or Shusterman at www.shusterman.com, it is obvious that they are hi-quality processing factories with the human touch - who cares about where they are from -
 
Re: www.visalaw.com Greg Siskind

Originally posted by pabcbc
I really don't understand why people get ripped off - apart from the ethnic affinities, that is - go see Greg at www.visalaw.com or Shusterman at www.shusterman.com, it is obvious that they are hi-quality processing factories with the human touch - who cares about where they are from -
Click to expand...

Trust me, you won't get Carl Shusterman for $3500. He charges $700/hour for a consultation!
 
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