By Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce · Updated
You can. The question is whether you should, and the cost people underestimate is not the new lawyer's rate — it is the reading.
| Are you allowed to? | Yes. ABA: "You can decide whom to hire (and fire) as your lawyer." |
|---|---|
| The cost nobody budgets for | The new firm has to read the entire file before doing anything, and you pay for that. |
| When it is usually right | A missed deadline; trust genuinely gone; you cannot get a straight account of your own case; you raised a problem formally and nothing changed. |
| When it is usually wrong | Disappointment with the law rather than the lawyer; a court date imminent; the delay is actually the other side's. |
| Timing | Close to a hearing, a change may be impractical or may require the court's permission. |
| Money on account | Unused funds should be accounted for and returned. Get it in writing. |
| Do this first | Line up the new lawyer before ending with the old one. |
| Can they keep your file? | Yes, if the bill is unpaid — a retaining lien. But not original court records, and not where it would materially prejudice an uncompleted matter. |
| What unblocks it | An undertaking from your new lawyer to pay the old firm out of the eventual result. Ask any prospective firm whether they will give one. |
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A deadline was missed. The most serious category. Get a second opinion promptly, because some missed deadlines can be remedied if addressed quickly.
You cannot get a straight account of your own case. If you cannot find out what has happened, what is outstanding and what happens next, that is not a personality problem.
Trust has actually gone. Not frustration — trust. You no longer believe the advice you are getting is sound or the work is being done.
You raised it formally and nothing changed. If you have used the escalation ladder — a written follow-up, a file review, a formal concern in writing — and there was no engagement, that is a different situation from ordinary slowness.
The relationship has become adversarial. Occasionally the lawyer-client relationship simply breaks. That is nobody's fault and it is not worth persisting with.
You are disappointed with the law, not the lawyer. This is genuinely common. A lawyer telling you something you do not want to hear may be doing their job well. A second opinion is cheaper than a change, and often ends the question.
A court date is imminent. A new firm cannot get up to speed quickly, and in some circumstances a change close to a hearing needs the court's permission.
The delay is the other side's. If your matter is stalled waiting on their disclosure, a new lawyer inherits the same wait and you have paid for a handover to get there.
You are on your third firm. Worth an honest look. Sometimes the common factor is the case rather than the counsel, and a new firm may reach the same view.
This is the part people get wrong.
The reading. A new firm has to review the entire file — correspondence, disclosure, court documents, chronology — before it can advise on anything. On a matter that has been running a year, that is a substantial number of billable hours, and you pay for it even though nothing has moved forward.
The overlap. Your outgoing firm will bill for preparing and transferring the file.
The delay. Weeks, typically, between instructing and being fully up to speed.
The lost context. Some of what your first lawyer knew is not in the file. Their read on the other side's counsel, what was said informally, the shape of a negotiation. That does not transfer.
How to reduce all of it: hand the new firm an organised summary — the current position on each issue, what is agreed, what is outstanding, the offer history with dates, and every live deadline. Every hour they do not spend reconstructing that is an hour you do not pay for. If you have kept a record throughout, this is the moment it pays for itself.
Line up the new lawyer first. Have a consultation, confirm they will take the matter, and check for conflicts before you end the old relationship. Being briefly unrepresented mid-matter is a bad position.
Give the new firm the honest version. Including what has gone wrong and why. They need to know what they are inheriting.
End the old relationship in writing. Short and factual. No explanation is required.
Ask for a written account of the current position. What has happened, what is outstanding, what deadlines are live. Ask for this even if the relationship has soured — particularly then.
Deal with the file transfer promptly. Your new lawyer will need it, and delays here are both expensive and risky. There is normally a formal step notifying the court and the other side that representation has changed.
Settle the money. Get a final invoice and an accounting of what remains on account. Unused funds should be returned. If you dispute the bill, that is a separate process — see our guide on challenging a lawyer's bill — and it is generally better to deal with the transfer first.
Tell your new lawyer about every deadline you know of, immediately, rather than assuming it is in the file.
This is the part almost nobody is told, and it is the reason a switch can stall for weeks. A lawyer who has not been paid may claim what is called a retaining lien. The Law Society of British Columbia's own practice resource puts it plainly: a retaining lien “allows you to keep (or retain), as security for payment of your bill, a client's files, documents, funds, and property that have come into your possession.” It is not a punishment and it is not unusual — it is a recognised right, and your new lawyer will expect it.
It is not unlimited. The same resource records that a lawyer “should not withhold documents if doing so would materially prejudice an uncompleted matter,” and that a court “may order you to return the property to the client if maintaining the retaining lien will materially prejudice your client's position in a matter or proceeding.” Original court records cannot be held at all.
Family files get particular treatment, and it is worth knowing before you panic. The resource cites Re Gladstone, where the court “ordered the delivery of documents held under a retaining lien in order to prevent prejudice to the children affected by a divorce proceeding.” A lien that would damage the children's position is the kind a court is most willing to lift.
In practice this is almost never resolved by argument. It is resolved by an undertaking — a formal promise from the incoming lawyer to the outgoing one. The mechanism, again from the Law Society's resource: “the subsequent lawyer may pay your disbursements upon billing and provide an undertaking for payment of your fees upon resolution of the proceeding.” The new firm pays the out-of-pocket costs now and guarantees the fees out of whatever the case eventually produces.
Two things follow that are worth saying out loud. The first is that the old firm does not have to agree: “you are under no obligation to accept an undertaking or security in exchange for the property and files.” The second is that this is the first question to ask a prospective new lawyer — not whether they will take the case, but whether they will give an undertaking to your current firm. A firm that will not is a firm that cannot start.
If your old lawyer is the one ending the relationship rather than you, the position changes in your favour. Courts “have generally held that a solicitor's lien will not apply if a lawyer withdraws from the relationship with a client without good cause.”
If the argument reaches the stage of a charging order — a claim against money or property the case itself recovers — there is a limit that matters specifically in family law. A charging order “against property that was recovered or preserved in a family law proceeding does not take priority over payments for child or spousal support.” Support comes first. A fee dispute between you and a former lawyer does not get to stand in front of the children's money.
Verification note. The mechanics of changing representation — the formal notice to the court, whether permission is required, and the rules on a firm retaining a file against unpaid fees — differ by jurisdiction and are not stated here. Ask your new lawyer how it works where you are.
Broadly yes — the ABA puts it plainly: "You can decide whom to hire (and fire) as your lawyer." There can be practical constraints close to a hearing, and in some circumstances a court's permission is needed for counsel to come off the record.
Practice and rules on this vary by jurisdiction, and it is a real risk to be aware of. Ask your new lawyer how it works where you are, and try to resolve the account.
A single change is unremarkable. Repeated changes, particularly close to hearings, can attract comment — partly because they delay matters.
Possibly, and that is the point of a second opinion. But if the first advice was sound, a good second lawyer will tell you the same thing. That is useful information rather than a wasted consultation.
Almost always yes. It is much cheaper than a handover, and it answers the question you are actually asking — is the advice wrong, or is the situation just bad?
Largely yes. An unpaid lawyer may claim a retaining lien over files and documents in their possession as security for the bill. The limits are real though: original court records are excluded, a lawyer should not withhold documents where doing so would materially prejudice an uncompleted matter, and a court can order the file released on exactly that ground. In divorce cases courts have ordered delivery to prevent prejudice to the children affected.
It is the standard way a file moves while a bill is unpaid: your new lawyer pays the old firm's disbursements and promises to pay their fees out of whatever the case eventually recovers. It is the usual unlock — but the old firm is under no obligation to accept one, so ask a prospective new lawyer whether they are willing to give an undertaking before you retain them.
Last reviewed September 2026. Researched and written by Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice — laws, fees and forms change, so please confirm current details with the official sources above or a local family lawyer.
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