Attorney Engagement Letter and Fee Agreement
(Federal)

Summary

This template is an engagement letter that can be used to enter and formalize an attorney-client relationship. It provides for either an hourly or contingency fee arrangement. The template includes practical guidance, drafting notes, and alternate and optional clauses. An engagement letter must contain certain essential information, such as the client's identity, the precise scope of the contemplated legal work, and the fee arrangement (including billing frequency). It also should comply with any governing local legal or ethical requirements (such as a disclosure of insurance coverage, where applicable, or the waiver of conflicts in the event of multiple client representation or the like), name a principal client contact at the firm, and request that the client sign an enclosed copy of the letter. For a full listing of key content covering fundamental civil litigation tasks throughout a federal court litigation lifecycle, see Civil Litigation Fundamentals Resource Kit (Federal). Since each state maintains its own rules of professional conduct and ethics, be sure to check for any different or additional jurisdiction-specific requirements for non-engagement letters. For more on evaluating new clients, see Client Evaluation Checklist (Plaintiff) (Federal). For a new client intake template, see Client Intake Form (Federal). For attorney non-engagement and disengagement letters, see Attorney Non-engagement Letter (Federal) and Attorney Disengagement Letter (Federal).