Retainer Agreement Criteria

The Retainer Agreement:

• Must have been signed and dated by both the Claimant and the Practising Lawyer (Individual Legal Fees Protocol, s. 18).
• Must indicate that the Practising Lawyer’s legal services are provided for the purpose of assisting the Claimant with their Claim under the Settlement Agreement for the Federal Indian Hospitals Settlement (Individual Legal Fees Protocol, s. 18).
• Must not stipulate that Claimant awards will be paid to their lawyer in trust or in any other manner. Claimant compensation awards are paid directly to the Claimant (Claims Protocol, s. 74).
• Must not stipulate that the Claimant will pay legal fees to the lawyer. Legal fees are paid directly to lawyers by Canada via the Claims Administrator (Individual Legal Fees Protocol, s. 1-3).
• Must not stipulate that Claimants will be charged other incidental expenses such as taxes (Settlement Agreement, s. 10.02), or disbursements (Settlement Agreement, s. 10.02) in any circumstances.
• Must not stipulate that lawyers will receive an automatic payment of legal fees equal to 5% of the Claimant award. The Practising Lawyer may be paid an amount equaling up to 5% of the Approved Claimant’s award, inclusive of disbursements, plus applicable taxes (Individual Legal Fees Protocol, s.1).
• Must not stipulate that the Claims Administrator will notify the Practising Lawyer of completed processing of an Approved Claimant’s award, where the Retainer Agreement has been terminated. Where the Claims Administrator receives multiple lawyer’s Retainer Agreements for a Claimant, the lawyers must follow the steps set out for “Multiple Lawyers Retained” (Individual Legal Fees Protocol, s.31-35).
• Must not refer to Appendices that contradict any of the above requirements.

Also, it is recommended that the Retainer Agreement includes language regarding legal fees (inclusive of disbursements, plus applicable taxes) being paid entirely by Canada in accordance with the Individual Legal Fees Protocol.