Yes. In Florida you can fire a lawyer you hired at any time, with or without a reason. The comment to Rule 4-1.16 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar says so directly. If you discharge a lawyer without cause, the Bar’s rules still require that lawyer to withdraw, and you owe the reasonable value of the work already done, up to the fee your agreement set.
In a pending criminal case, the old lawyer stays on until the judge signs an order substituting your new lawyer or allowing withdrawal. Close to trial, the judge can refuse to delay the case for a new lawyer.
A public defender is different. You cannot choose a new one. A judge replaces an appointed lawyer when there is reasonable cause to believe that lawyer is not giving you effective help.
At a glance:
- Hired lawyer: you can fire them any time, for any reason. In a pending case, the judge signs an order before the change takes effect.
- Public defender: you cannot pick a new one. The judge replaces an appointed lawyer when there is reasonable cause to believe the lawyer is not giving effective help.
- Money: unearned advance fees come back. A lawyer fired without cause is owed the reasonable value of the work done, never more than the agreed fee.
- Your file: a lawyer who is still owed money can hold it until you pay or post security.
- Timing: change early. Close to trial, the judge can refuse to delay the case for a new lawyer.
What to Do If Your Lawyer Won’t Call You Back
The Florida Bar suggests these steps when a lawyer goes silent:
- Call the office and leave a message asking for a return call.
- If no call comes within a reasonable time, write a letter, “preferably with return receipt requested,” explaining your concerns.
- If that does not resolve it, call the Bar’s Attorney/Consumer Assistance Program (ACAP) at 866-352-0707.
Behind those steps is a rule. Florida requires a lawyer to keep you “reasonably informed about the status of the matter” and to “promptly comply with reasonable requests for information.” When a prompt answer is not possible, the comment to Rule 4-1.4 says the lawyer, “or a member of the lawyer’s staff,” must “acknowledge receipt of the request and advise the client when a response may be expected.” A lawyer who receives a plea offer “must promptly inform the client of its substance” unless you have already told the lawyer how to respond.
Before You Fire Your Lawyer
- Ask for a meeting in writing. A short email or letter asking for a call about your case creates a record and gives the lawyer a chance to fix the problem.
- Line up the new lawyer first. In a criminal case, the new lawyer files the paperwork, and the judge signs the order. Do not fire your lawyer the week before a court date and walk in alone.
- Move early. The closer you are to trial, the more room the judge has to say no to a delay. More on that below.
- Read your fee agreement. Look for whether the fee is a flat fee, an advance fee billed against as work is done, or a nonrefundable fee, and whether it requires arbitration of fee disputes.
- Do not file motions yourself while you have a lawyer. The Florida Supreme Court has held there is “no constitutional right to hybrid representation,” meaning a defendant who has a lawyer cannot also represent himself at the same time (Sheppard v. State, 17 So. 3d 275 (Fla. 2009)). If you want the lawyer replaced, say so clearly.
- Do not discuss the case with anyone else while you switch. Talk to the new lawyer, not the prosecutor, the alleged victim, or social media.
The first consultation is free and confidential. Call (305) 774-7000.
Sample Letter Firing Your Lawyer
Put it in writing. The comment to Rule 4-1.16 says that where a dispute about the end of the representation may come up, “it may be advisable to prepare a written statement reciting the circumstances.” Keep a copy.
[Date]
[Lawyer’s name]
[Firm address]
Re: [Your name], [case name and case number]
Dear [Lawyer’s name]:
I am ending your representation of me in the case above. My new lawyer is [name, phone, email].
Please send my complete file to [my address / my new lawyer], refund any advance payment of fees or costs that has not been earned, and send me a final statement of fees and costs.
Until the court signs an order substituting my new lawyer, please continue to protect my interests in this case.
[Signature]
[Printed name, phone, email]
In a pending criminal case, this letter does not take your old lawyer off the case. Your new lawyer files your written consent, and the judge signs the substitution order. Leave out any “stop all work” line, so you are not left without a lawyer at a hearing before the order is signed.
Do I Need a Reason to Fire My Lawyer?
No. The comment to Rule 4-1.16 states: “A client has a right to discharge a lawyer at any time, with or without cause, subject to liability for payment for the lawyer’s services.” The rule itself says a lawyer “shall withdraw from the representation of a client if” the lawyer “is discharged,” subject to the court’s permission in a pending case.
In a criminal case, the right also comes from the Sixth Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the right to counsel includes “the right of a defendant who does not require appointed counsel to choose who will represent him” (United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez, 548 U.S. 140, 144 (2006)). When a court wrongly keeps a defendant from the lawyer he hired, the violation is “complete,” “regardless of the quality of the representation he received” (id. at 148).
How to Change Lawyers in the Middle of a Florida Criminal Case
To change lawyers in a pending Florida criminal case, you sign a written consent, your new lawyer files it, and the judge signs an order substituting counsel. Until then, your old lawyer is still your lawyer of record, and every court date stays on the calendar.
Under Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.505, a lawyer who has appeared in a case stays on it until the appearance ends in one of the ways the rule lists. For a lawyer from a different firm, that means “a written order by the court, that reflects written consent of the client.” The court “may condition substitution of counsel upon payment of or grant of security for the substituted attorney’s fees and expenses.”
When a Judge Can Refuse to Delay Trial for a New Lawyer
Short answer: the earlier you switch, the better. Near trial, the judge weighs your choice of lawyer against the court’s schedule, and once trial starts, a judge is rarely faulted on appeal for refusing a delay to bring in a new lawyer.
The right to hire the lawyer you want “is not absolute.” When a defendant asks on the eve of trial or in the middle of trial for time to bring in and prepare a new lawyer, Miami-Dade’s appeals court has held that the judge “must balance the countervailing interests of the effective administration of the courts with the defendant’s right to private counsel of his choice,” and the factors include “how long the case has been pending; the likelihood of prejudice from denial; the adequacy of the defendant’s current counsel; and the complexity of the case and time it would take for the defendant’s chosen counsel to prepare the case for trial” (Francois v. State, 137 So. 3d 1186 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014)). “Once trial has begun and jeopardy has attached, a trial court will rarely abuse its discretion by denying a motion for a continuance to substitute counsel when that request had not been previously raised.”
The right also “cannot be invoked in bad faith, for the sake of arbitrary delay or to otherwise subvert judicial proceedings” (Lelieve v. State, 7 So. 3d 624 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009) (quoting Holley v. State, 484 So. 2d 634 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986))). On the other side, Florida appeals courts have reversed convictions where a judge denied newly hired counsel a short delay without looking into the circumstances (Alvarez v. State, 75 So. 3d 420 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011)), or relied on an incorrect history “without considering the surrounding circumstances and the relevant factors” (Jordan v. State, No. 2D2024-1440 (Fla. 2d DCA Mar. 25, 2026)).
A delay you ask for can also affect speedy trial rights. Florida’s speedy trial rule does not require discharge when “the failure to hold trial is attributable to the accused, a codefendant in the same trial, or their counsel” (Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.191(j)(2)).
What Do I Owe a Lawyer I Fire?
Short answer: if you fire a lawyer without cause, you owe the reasonable value of the work done, capped at the fee you agreed to. Any advance that has not been earned comes back.
The Florida Supreme Court has held that a lawyer discharged without cause “is entitled to the reasonable value of his services on the basis of quantum meruit, but recovery is limited to the maximum fee set in the contract entered into for those services” (Rosenberg v. Levin, 409 So. 2d 1016 (Fla. 1982)). The court adopted that rule “in all premature discharge cases involving both fixed and contingency employment contracts.” Quantum meruit means the reasonable value of the work done. In setting that amount, the Florida Supreme Court has said “the reason the attorney was discharged” may be relevant (Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart & Shipley, P.A. v. Poletz, 652 So. 2d 366 (Fla. 1995)).
Whether you get money back also depends on what your fee agreement calls the fee:
- Advance fee. Money paid up front and billed against as work is done. It must be held in trust until earned, and Rule 4-1.16(d) requires “refunding any advance payment of fee or expense that has not been earned or incurred.”
- Flat fee. One price for all the work in the case. The rules allow a flat fee to be called “non-refundable.”
- Nonrefundable fee. It “must be confirmed in writing” and must explain what is nonrefundable. Even then, the fee must be reasonable. The rules apply the reasonableness test “to all fees for legal services without regard to their characterization by the parties.” The Florida Supreme Court suspended a lawyer who, after she was fired, kept the unearned part of a fee that she and her client had treated as nonrefundable without a written fee agreement (The Florida Bar v. Forrester, 656 So. 2d 1273 (Fla. 1995)).
Florida does not allow contingent fees for defending a criminal case.
If you and the lawyer disagree about the fee, The Florida Bar runs a fee arbitration program. It is free. It is also voluntary, so both sides must agree to it. The parties are bound by the award, subject to the limited rights under chapter 682, Florida Statutes, to set it aside or change it. It handles disputes where the fee is the sole disputed issue of fact and all parties estimate the evidence can be heard in 8 hours or less. A single arbitrator decides disputes of $15,000 or less unless the parties agree otherwise. The Bar also offers free, voluntary grievance mediation; to start it, call 850-561-3166.
Can My Lawyer Keep My File Until I Pay?
Short answer: sometimes. A lawyer who is still owed money can hold the file until you pay or post security, and a judge can set the security amount when the fee is disputed.
Rule 4-1.16(d) requires a fired lawyer to surrender “papers and property to which the client is entitled,” but lets the lawyer hold papers “to the extent permitted by law.” Florida courts allow a lawyer who is owed fees or costs to keep the file under a “retaining lien” until the client pays or posts adequate security, and, standing alone, a client’s “lack of funds to pay the outstanding bill does not defeat the lien” (Andrew Hall & Associates v. Ghanem, 679 So. 2d 60 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996)).
Courts have said a file will be released without payment or security in rare circumstances: “where there is a clear necessity in a criminal case and a defendant cannot post security or where the lawyer’s misconduct caused his withdrawal” (id.). A Florida Bar ethics opinion says a lawyer generally must return the client’s property, such as “original documents with intrinsic value” that the client provided, and that a lien “may be limited, however, by the ethical obligation to avoid foreseeable prejudice to the client’s interests” (Fla. Bar Ethics Op. 88-11 (Reconsideration) (2021)).
If you need the file for a pending case and dispute what you owe, your new lawyer can ask the judge to decide the amount and set the terms of adequate security, and the file is turned over once that security is posted (Ghanem; Smith v. Patton, 562 So. 2d 859 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)). A defendant in a criminal case who cannot post security must show the clear necessity described above. For a defendant who had appointed counsel, the Florida Supreme Court has held that transcripts and record documents prepared at public cost “should be surrendered” to successor counsel “without charge” (Long v. Dillinger, 701 So. 2d 1168 (Fla. 1997)).
Can My Lawyer Drop Me?
Yes, in some situations. Under Rule 4-1.16(b), a Florida lawyer may withdraw if “withdrawal can be accomplished without material adverse effect on the interests of the client,” if the client “insists upon taking action that the lawyer considers repugnant, imprudent, or with which the lawyer has a fundamental disagreement,” if the client “fails substantially to fulfill an obligation to the lawyer regarding the lawyer’s services,” such as paying, after “reasonable warning that the lawyer will withdraw unless the obligation is fulfilled,” if the case becomes “an unreasonable financial burden on the lawyer,” or if “other good cause for withdrawal exists.”
In a pending case, the lawyer needs a written court order “after hearing on a motion setting forth reasons for withdrawal and the client’s last known address, telephone number, and e-mail address” (Rule 2.505(f)(1)). That email becomes your primary address for court notices unless you designate another, so make sure it is correct. And “when ordered to do so by a tribunal, a lawyer shall continue representation notwithstanding good cause for terminating the representation” (Rule 4-1.16(c)).
How to Get a New Public Defender in Florida
Short answer: you cannot pick a new public defender, but you can ask the judge for a different appointed lawyer, and the judge replaces one when there is reasonable cause to believe the lawyer is not giving you effective help. General complaints are not enough.
The Florida Supreme Court has said that getting a different court-appointed lawyer “is not his constitutional right” (Hardwick v. State, 521 So. 2d 1071, 1074 (Fla. 1988)), and the U.S. Supreme Court has said the right to choose a lawyer “does not extend to defendants who require counsel to be appointed for them” (Gonzalez-Lopez, 548 U.S. at 151).
What you have is the right to effective help. Florida courts follow the procedure from Nelson v. State, 274 So. 2d 256 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973), which the Florida Supreme Court approved in Hardwick:
- You tell the judge before trial that you want to discharge your appointed lawyer, and why.
- If you say the lawyer is not competent, the judge questions you and the lawyer to decide whether there is “reasonable cause to believe that the court appointed counsel is not rendering effective assistance.”
- If there is reasonable cause, the judge appoints a new lawyer, who gets time to prepare.
- If there is not, the judge says so on the record and warns you that if you discharge your lawyer anyway, the State may not have to appoint another one.
Raise it before trial. Once trial has begun, “a trial judge is not required to conduct a Nelson hearing,” and complaints about the lawyer’s work at trial are left for a later postconviction motion (Haugabook v. State, 689 So. 2d 1245 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997)).
General unhappiness does not meet the standard. The Florida Supreme Court said in 2023 that “generalized grievances” about matters such as trial preparation and strategy “do not provide cause for a Nelson hearing” (Figueroa-Sanabria v. State, 366 So. 3d 1035 (Fla. 2023)). A Florida appeals court held in 2025 that “a general complaint that counsel has not visited enough is not an adequate ground to find that counsel is ineffective” (Cota v. State, 413 So. 3d 298 (Fla. 1st DCA 2025)). In a Miami-Dade probation violation case, the Third District upheld the trial court where the complaints were “generalized grievances” and the defendant never asked for a different appointed lawyer, “the fundamental prerequisite of a Nelson inquiry” (Otero-Rosario v. State, 353 So. 3d 712 (Fla. 3d DCA 2023) (quoting Augsberger v. State, 655 So. 2d 1202 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995))).
If you raise it, be clear that you are asking for a different appointed lawyer, and bring written facts: dates, what you asked for, and what was not done.
If the judge finds no reasonable cause, tells you that you are not entitled to a substitute, and you still insist on firing your appointed lawyer, Florida courts presume you are choosing to represent yourself (Weaver v. State, 894 So. 2d 178, 193 (Fla. 2004)), and the judge may “require the defendant to proceed to trial without representation by court appointed counsel” (Nelson). The judge must first warn you of “the disadvantages and dangers of self-representation” and find that your waiver of counsel is knowing and intelligent (Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.111(d)(2)-(3); Hardwick). If you go without a lawyer, the court must offer you one again “at each subsequent stage of the proceedings at which the defendant appears without counsel” (Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.111(d)(5)). Hiring a private lawyer is the other path, and no Nelson hearing is needed for that. Our post on whether you can represent yourself in court covers that choice.
Lawyers You Hired and Public Defender Conflicts
The Nelson procedure is for court-appointed lawyers. The Florida Supreme Court has said a Nelson inquiry “is appropriate when an indigent defendant attempts to discharge current, and obtain new, court-appointed counsel prior to trial due to ineffectiveness,” and found Nelson “inapplicable” where the defendant’s “lawyer was privately hired, not court-appointed” (Branch v. State, 685 So. 2d 1250, 1252 (Fla. 1996)). Miami-Dade’s appeals court has held the same where the lawyer was not court-appointed (Craig v. State, 921 So. 2d 37 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006)).
A conflict of interest is handled differently. A public defender with a conflict “shall file a motion to withdraw and move the court to appoint other counsel,” and “the court shall appoint conflict counsel pursuant to s. 27.40, first appointing the office of criminal conflict and civil regional counsel and, if the office is found to have a conflict, appointing private counsel” (§ 27.5303, Fla. Stat.). Miami-Dade, in the Eleventh Circuit, is in the third of the five regions, each with a separate office of criminal conflict and civil regional counsel (§ 27.511(1), Fla. Stat.). A heavy caseload alone is not grounds: “In no case shall the court approve a withdrawal by the public defender or criminal conflict and civil regional counsel based solely upon inadequacy of funding or excess workload.”
How to Report a Lawyer to The Florida Bar
- Start with ACAP. The Bar says common problems, “such as fee disputes, lack of communication or failure to return client property,” may be resolved without filing a complaint. Call 866-352-0707.
- File a complaint. The Bar’s Inquiry/Complaint Form is a fillable PDF on its website, and you can submit up to 25 pages in total, counting the form and any exhibits. The Bar “strongly” discourages using AI to write the complaint, because AI drafts tend to state conclusions without the facts the Bar needs.
- Name the lawyer. The Bar regulates “individual lawyers, not law firms,” so the complaint names the lawyer who handled your case.
- Know the deadline. A complaint must be made within 6 years from when the problem was discovered or should have been discovered. There is no time limit for theft or a felony conviction of a lawyer.
- Who can see it. Files under investigation are confidential. “All files are public record after closure or after a grievance committee finds probable cause.”
- Stolen money. The Clients’ Security Fund can repay money a lawyer misappropriated, up to $250,000, and fees paid when no work was done, up to $5,000. Payment is discretionary, and the fund is not obligated to pay any claim.
- What the fund requires. The lawyer must first be under a rehabilitative suspension, disbarred, or have a license revoked, unless the lawyer has died. The fund does not cover fee disputes, negligence, or malpractice, and a claim must be filed within 3 years of the final disciplinary action or of the lawyer’s death.
A Bar complaint does not put a new lawyer on your case. That still takes a court order.
If Your Lawyer’s Mistakes Cost You the Case
Short answer: you have 2 years after the judgment and sentence become final to file a motion claiming your lawyer was ineffective, with limited exceptions.
If your case is over and you believe your lawyer’s mistakes cost you, Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 allows a motion for postconviction relief. With limited exceptions, it must be filed within 2 years after the judgment and sentence become final. One exception covers a defendant who hired a lawyer to file the motion on time and the lawyer, “through neglect, failed to file the motion.” A claim under that exception may not be filed more than 2 years after the original deadline expired.
A claim that the lawyer was ineffective has to meet the test from Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 694 (1984): the lawyer’s performance was deficient, and “the deficient performance prejudiced the defense,” meaning a “reasonable probability” of a different result.
Before you hire anyone new, see our guides on what to ask before you hire a criminal defense lawyer in Miami-Dade, what a criminal defense lawyer costs in Miami, public defender or private lawyer in Miami-Dade, and what happens at a free consultation.
This post reflects the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, Florida court rules, and Florida Statutes as of November 2026.
Sources: Rules Regulating The Florida Bar 4-1.4, 4-1.5, 4-1.16, 3-7.16, 7-2.3, 7-2.4, 14-1.2, 14-6.1; The Florida Bar Fee Arbitration Procedural Rules (Jan. 23, 2026); Fla. Bar Ethics Op. 88-11 (Reconsideration) (2021); Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. 2.505; Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.111, 3.191, 3.850; §§ 27.511, 27.5303, Fla. Stat.; United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez, 548 U.S. 140 (2006); Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984); Rosenberg v. Levin, 409 So. 2d 1016 (Fla. 1982); Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart & Shipley, P.A. v. Poletz, 652 So. 2d 366 (Fla. 1995); The Florida Bar v. Forrester, 656 So. 2d 1273 (Fla. 1995); Andrew Hall & Associates v. Ghanem, 679 So. 2d 60 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996); Smith v. Patton, 562 So. 2d 859 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); Long v. Dillinger, 701 So. 2d 1168 (Fla. 1997); Francois v. State, 137 So. 3d 1186 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014); Lelieve v. State, 7 So. 3d 624 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009); Holley v. State, 484 So. 2d 634 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Alvarez v. State, 75 So. 3d 420 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011); Jordan v. State, No. 2D2024-1440 (Fla. 2d DCA Mar. 25, 2026); Nelson v. State, 274 So. 2d 256 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973); Hardwick v. State, 521 So. 2d 1071 (Fla. 1988); Figueroa-Sanabria v. State, 366 So. 3d 1035 (Fla. 2023); Weaver v. State, 894 So. 2d 178 (Fla. 2004); Branch v. State, 685 So. 2d 1250 (Fla. 1996); Craig v. State, 921 So. 2d 37 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006); Haugabook v. State, 689 So. 2d 1245 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997); Sheppard v. State, 17 So. 3d 275 (Fla. 2009); Otero-Rosario v. State, 353 So. 3d 712 (Fla. 3d DCA 2023); Cota v. State, 413 So. 3d 298 (Fla. 1st DCA 2025); The Florida Bar, Attorney/Consumer Assistance Program, File a Lawyer Complaint, Complaint Alternatives, and Clients’ Security Fund.
Quick Answers
Can I fire my lawyer in Florida?
Yes. A client can discharge a lawyer at any time, with or without a reason, and the lawyer must withdraw, with the court’s permission in a pending case. A lawyer fired without cause is owed the reasonable value of the work done, capped at the fee in the agreement.
How do I fire my lawyer?
Send the lawyer a short letter saying the representation is over, naming your new lawyer, and asking for your file and any unearned advance fee. Keep a copy. In a pending case, your new lawyer files your written consent and the judge signs an order substituting counsel.
Can I change lawyers in the middle of a criminal case?
Yes. Your new lawyer files your written consent, and the judge signs an order substituting counsel. If the new lawyer needs a delay, the judge weighs how long the case has been pending, prejudice, and the time needed to prepare, and once trial has begun, a judge rarely abuses his discretion by denying a first-time request to delay for a new lawyer.
Do I get a refund if I fire my lawyer?
Any advance fee that has not been earned must be refunded. A flat or nonrefundable fee may not come back, but a nonrefundable fee must be confirmed in writing and must still be reasonable. Fee disputes can go to The Florida Bar’s free fee arbitration program if both sides agree.
Can my lawyer keep my file until I pay?
Florida courts allow a lawyer who is owed fees or costs to hold the file under a retaining lien until the client pays or posts adequate security. Courts have said it will be released without payment or security in rare circumstances, such as a clear necessity in a criminal case where the defendant cannot post security.
Can my lawyer drop me?
Yes, for reasons that include nonpayment after a reasonable warning, a fundamental disagreement, or other good cause. In a pending case the lawyer needs a court order after a hearing, and a judge can order the lawyer to stay on.
Can I get a new public defender in Florida?
Not just because you want one. You can ask the judge before trial to replace your appointed lawyer, and the judge should appoint a new one if there is reasonable cause to believe the lawyer is not giving effective help. Generalized grievances, such as a general complaint about too few visits, have been held not enough.
Can I fire my public defender and represent myself?
Yes, if the judge warns you of the dangers of self-representation and finds that your waiver of counsel is knowing and intelligent. If the judge finds no reasonable cause to replace your lawyer and you insist on firing the lawyer anyway, Florida courts presume you are choosing to represent yourself, and the State may not have to appoint another lawyer.
What can I do if my lawyer won’t call me back?
Florida’s rules require lawyers to respond promptly to reasonable requests for information. Call and leave a message, then send a letter, preferably with return receipt requested. If that fails, call The Florida Bar’s Attorney/Consumer Assistance Program at 866-352-0707.
How do I report a lawyer to The Florida Bar?
Call ACAP at 866-352-0707 or fill out the Bar’s Inquiry/Complaint Form on its website, with up to 25 pages in total, counting the form and exhibits. Complaints must be made within 6 years of when the problem was discovered or should have been discovered, except for theft or a felony conviction.
The first consultation is free and confidential, with no obligation to retain.
Last updated: November 14, 2026.