Fordham Law Review Volume 57 Issue 2 Article 1 1988 Nonrefundable Retainers: Impermissible Under Fiduciary, Statutory and Contract Law Lester Brickman Lawrence A. Cunningham Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Lester Brickman and Lawrence A. Cunningham, Nonrefundable Retainers: Impermissible Under Fiduciary, Statutory and Contract Law, 57 Fordham L. Rev. 149 (1988). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol57/iss2/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Law Review by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Nonrefundable Retainers: Impermissible Under Fiduciary, Statutory and Contract Law Cover Page Footnote Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. B.S. 1961, Carnegie-Mellon University; J.D. 1964, University of Florida; LL.M. 1965, Yale University. Associate, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York, New York. B.A. 1985, University of Delaware; J.D. magna cum laude 1988, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. This article is available in Fordham Law Review: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol57/iss2/1 NONREFUNDABLE RETAINERS: IMPERMISSIBLE UNDER FIDUCIARY, STATUTORY AND CONTRACT LAW LESTER BRICKMAN* LAWRENCE A. CUNNINGHAM** TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .............................................. 150 I. The Lawyer as Fiduciary .................................. 153 A. Client's Right to Discharge............................ 155 B. Codification of Trust ................................... 156 C. Exceptions to the Discharge Right ..................... 157 D. Historic Development ................................. 160 1. Up to Martin v.