The Phil Spector murder case had drama on all sides, not the least of which was Spector’s unhappiness with his choice of counsel.  When the cops snapped the cuffs around his wrists, Phil turned to his friend and Hollywood criminal defense lawyer to the stars, Robert Shapiro. 

You remember Bob Shapiro, OJ Dream Team leader (at least in the beginning) who later ended up in a war of egos with Johnnie Cochran over whose was bigger (yeah, a Jewish guy and a black guy; guess who [deservedly] won). Well, Phil Spector paid Shapiro a $1,000,000.00 retainer.  Shapiro gave him the “close personal friend” discount.

Now Phil wants his money back.  Phil had earlier commenced an action to recover the retainer, but discontinued it without prejudice.  Now that Phil’s first trial ended up with a hung jury, he’s got some free time on his hands and, according to this New York Lawyer piece, he’s going after his pal Bob.

The new lawsuit makes allegations similar to the first, claiming Shapiro “took unfair and unscrupulous advantage of his friendship and position of trust with Mr. Spector, and decided to use Mr. Spector’s arrest as an opportunity to make a financial windfall and garner publicity for himself.

These allegations strike me as curious.  Spector gets arrested, hires his buddy Shapiro (who happens to be a criminal defense lawyer, though of disputed quality) and pays him.  There isn’t much here that sounds wrong, no matter what rhetoric you use to characterize this as evil.  To the extent that Bob Shapiro wasn’t the best lawyer for the job, nobody put a gun to Phil Spector’s head to force him to retain Shapiro. 

Spector also alleged he was pressured into signing an “engagement letter” with Shapiro and the firm at a time when “he was laboring under a tremendous amount of mental stress that comes with being arrested for murder.”

 But criminal defense lawyers are typically retained during times of extreme duress and emotion.  People don’t hire us when life is going great.  When life if good, we’re pariahs.  It’s only when this defecation strikes a whirling blade that we’re needed, and then we’re suddenly their best friend.  It’s the nature of the business.

On the other hand, if Phil Spector’s argument is that people should retain criminal defense lawyers when they have no charges pending, I’m with him 100%.  I think everyone should have a criminal defense lawyer on retainer.  You never know, right?

But it’s not all roses and kudos for Shapiro, either.

Shapiro’s attorney contended that Spector tried to break his contract with Shapiro by trying to get back some of the retainer after switching lawyers.

So what?  Ethically, a client can discharge his lawyer at any moment, for good reason or no reason at all.  The ability to freely contract is different for lawyers than for anyone else.  We cannot force our clients to continue to be represented by us if they decide otherwise.  It’s the client’s right.  It’s always the client’s right, and there is nothing we can (or should be able to) do to change that.  If they don’t like our tie, they can fire us.  Irrational, perhaps, but still the client’s right.

As for the money, New York does not permit nonrefundable retainers in criminal cases.  In re Cooperman. 83 NY 465 (1994).  Many other states have followed suit.  Why?  Because it becomes a “contract” of financial adhesion, where you can fire the lawyer but, if you can’t recover the unused portion of the retainer, you have no money left to hire the new lawyer and feel compelled to stay with a lawyer you don’t want for financial reasons. 

Did Bob Shapiro “earn” his million?  That’s another issue.  He may well have, given the nature of the case and the defendants.  I doubt it, but that’s just my personal speculation.  It’s the only real issue in this matter, and should serve to warn all Hollywood criminal defense lawyers not to commit to buying that new Bentley too soon.