Rotker v. Rotker

OPINION OF THE COURT

Robert A. Spolzino, J.

At issue in this fee dispute between the plaintiff and her former attorneys is the compatibility, or incompatibility, of the attorneys’ common-law right to a retaining lien with the requirement now established by the Appellate Divisions that matrimonial fee disputes be determined by arbitration. The issue arises in the context of the plaintiff’s motion for an order directing her former attorneys to deliver their file with respect to this action to her new attorney. In response, the former attorneys have asserted a common-law retaining lien with…