We ran into a similar situation…had an attorney help with a family member’s traffic ticket. (nothing bad, it was 10mph over in a construction zone late at night, he forgot that it was a construction zone when he pulled back onto the main road from the subdivision, and was travellling below the normal posted speed limit. If it were a DUI, I would have let the justice system teach him a lesson, but in this case, it was an honest mistake).
Anyway, in the initial conversation, the attorney said he usually charges $200 for meeting with the judge’s mediator and trying to arrange a lessor traffic charge with no points, unless it takes more or less time. Basically, he was there for about 3 minutes; I think they have this wink-wink, nod-nod arrangement going with the courts that lines their pockets with cash, but $200 is certainly cheaper than the increase in insurance premium we would have had to endure for 2 years. Simple math, really.
Anyway, after we paid the reduced ticket fine, he said he’d contact us. After 2 weeks, my wife called his office and left a message…and again 3 weeks later. Now, a year later, we’ve not heard anything.
So, we’re not going to press the issue. He had ample opportunity to send us a bill or contact us back, and we tried three times to get him to send a bill. He has our complete information if he wants to be paid. Since we got his name from a friend who’s a judge in the area, I’m assuming he is writing it off as a favor to him. Wink-wink, nod-nod.
In the OP’s case, yes, I would give him one more chance. If the bill is still too high, keep negotiating. He apparently isn’t missing the money, otherwise you’d have heard from him.
IMHO, many attorneys are not terribly good businesspersons.
Another option would be for you to send him a check and letter stating that this is the amount you think is fair for his services (as long as your are fair in assessing the time and effort he put into your case). Chances are he’ll take it, rather than spend his time arguing over the bill.
