Retainer Policy

It is the policy of Stokes Law (the “Firm”) to require payment of a retainer prior to commencement of services. We ask that you provide a retainer in the amount of $5,000.00 (“retainer”) to be held in trust (“Trust Funds”). 

 

The retainer is held in trust on your file and is not used to pay monthly accounts but rather, is used to pay the final account on your file, with any balance then returned to you. The Trust Funds are required to be at a minimum of $5,000 on a go-forward basis and this amount will thus be withdrawn from your credit card once we receive the signed credit card authorization. The funds in trust act as security on your card. Once we have issued you a Statement of Account, we will use your credit card to pay the full balance owing on your Statement of Account and we will not use the funds in trust unless we are unable to process the amount owing on your credit card for any reason. If we are required to use your Trust Funds, you will be required to replenish your Trust Funds to $5,000 before we can resume work on your file. The goal is for your credit card to pay for the conduct of your file, and for your Trust Funds to always remain at a balance of $5,000 so that funds are available as security throughout the duration of your file. Following the completion of the file, all funds held in trust will be issued back to you. The retainer is not an estimate of our anticipated fees and costs. As your matter proceeds, we may require an increase in the retainer before any period of significant work on the file to secure payment for further anticipated fees and costs. We will discuss this with you at the relevant time.