(A) The act of withholding what one has in one’s own hands by virtue of some right. 2. An executor or administrator is entitled to retain in certain cases, for a debt due to him by the estate of a testator or intestate. 3. It is proposed to inquire, 1. Who may retain. 2. Against whom. 3. On what claims. 4. What amount may be retained. (B) practice. The act of a client, by which he engages an attorney or counselor to manage a cause, either by prosecuting it, when he is plaintiff, or defending it, when he is defendant. (C) It is the fee that is paid in advance to a lawyer to secure the lawyer’s services in the same way as a down payment. It is usually used against existing services provided and the retainer must be replenished at certain intervals. It ensures that the lawyer will be paid for work performed by having an advance deposit.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
1. The right of retainer is the right which the executor or administrator of a deceased person has to retain oujt pt the assets sufficient to pay any debt due to him from the deceased in priority to the other creditors whose debts are of equal degree. 3 Steph. Comm. 263. Miller v. Irby, 63 Ala. 483; Taylor v. Deblois, 23 Fed. Cas. 765. 2.In English practice, a “retainer,” as applied to counsel, is commonly used to signify” a notice given to a counsel by an attorney on the behalf of the plaintiff or defendant in an action, in order to secure his services as advocate when the cause comes on for trial. Holthouse. Agnew v. Walden, 84 Ala. 502,South. 672; Blackman v. Webb, 38 Kan. 668. A servant, not menial or familiar, that’ Is, not continually dwelling in the house of his master, but only wearing his livery, attending sometimes upon special occasions, is, in old English usage, called a “retainer.” M Cowell. General retainer. A general retainer of an attorney or solicitor “merely gives a right to expect professional service when requested, but none which is not requested.. It binds the person retained not to take a fee from another against his retainer, but to do nothing except what he is asked to do, and for this he is to be distinctly paid.” Rhode Island Exch. Bank y. Hawkins, 6 R. I.’ 206. Special retainer. An engagement or retainer of an attorney or solicitor for a special and designated purpose’: as, to prepare and try a-particular case.