What is prior personal injury attorney in CA entitled to (From settlement) I believe it is only fair value for work done.

Go back and look at your original contract with the attorney. Usually there is a provision which states that if the attorney is fired, he will be entitled to receive a certain amount for every hour worked on the case. The prior attorney would then be able to recover that amount of money. But usually personal injury attorneys don't keep very good track of their hours. So usually the old attorney and the new attorney will have to come up with some sort of agreement to how to split the fees. The bad news is that when an attorney asserts a lien like this, their name is included on the settlement check. So it may become a fight getting the prior attorney to sign off on the settlement check. Good luck.

Generally, in California or otherwise, best practices on these issues of termination/ withdrawal / fees /costs and expenses / and the sometimes necessary but often nefarious "Attorney's Liens" / "Charging Liens" are and should be set out in writing in the Fee agreement originally signed by the Attorney and you as the Client. Review your Fee Agreement. If still not clear, document all of your questions, comments and concerns to your former attorney in writing, via certified letter, to document and create paper trail of this spiraling process. If you have new representation, discuss matter with them as it will have to be addressed, at some point, as you move forward with personal injury claims/ suit / damages /settlement. Also consider, California Rules of Professional Conduct 3-300 which states: a member of the bar shall not "knowingly acquire an ownership, possessory, security or other pecuniary interest adverse to a client" unless certain requirements are met, including (a) the terms are fair and reasonable to the client and fully disclosed to the client in writing in a manner reasonably understood by the client; (b) the client is advised in writing that the client may seek the advice of an independent lawyer and given a reasonable opportunity to do so; and (c) the client consents in writing to the terms of the transaction. Failure to satisfy all of these requirements may make an applicable agreement voidable at the option of the client.

If attorney is fired, it depends on what your fee agreement with that attorney is. It's usually fair value as you state, but that is usually an issue for the new attorney to work out with the fired attorney. Fired attorney may have a lien for his work though. They don't get to charge twice

It also depends when you fired him/her. If your lawyer got you a settlement offer of $40,000, then you fired them and collected the $40,000, you owe the fee.

IF this is a contingency fee matter, and the first attorney has done most or all of the work, there is California Law that he may be entitled to the full percentage fee. If the new attorney does a lot of work however, then the fee to the first attorney is usually proportionate to the work done. Good Luck.

A lawyers entitlement to fees when fired is usually based on the contract or fee agreement you signed when you originally hired the lawyer. It is pretty standard language in most attorney fee agreements.