Delaware Business Litigation Report

Court Of Chancery Upholds Attorney Lien

Judy v. Preferred Communications Systems, Inc., C.A. 4662-VCL (August 19, 2011)

This is the first decision in Delaware to uphold an attorney's lien for unpaid legal fees.  Hence it is welcome news to us all.  The Court conditioned the release of the documents subject to the lien on the client posting security to cover the disputed fees pending an arbitration.

The opinion is particularly noteworthy for its exhaustive scholarship and its modification of the old rule that such a lien might only be justified to prevent a client fraud.

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