Void Fee Pact

CK - Washington.   Circulating among attorneys in Germany is the news that fee agreements entitled Honorarvereinbarung are void because they violate the specific requirements of §4 of the federal fee statute, Gesetz über die Vergütung der Rechtsanwältinnen und Rechtsanwälte. The statute calls such agreements Vergütungsvereinbarung. Semantics? There are judges who deem the choice of words less important than the content of the fee agreement. Lawyers are more familiar with the traditional term Honorarvereinbarung for fee agreement than the statutory term which tends toward a meaning of agreement for compensation. German American Law Journal :: Washington USA