Retainer

RETAINER, properly the act of retaining or keeping for oneself, or a person or object which retains or keeps; historically, a follower of a house or family, and particularly used of armed followers attached to the barons of the middle ages.

Retainer of Counsel.

When it is considered desirable by a litigant that the services of any particular counsel (barrister) should be obtained for the conduct of his case, it is necessary to deposit with counsel a form of retainer together with the neces sary fee in cash, from which time counsel is bound to give the party who has thus retained him the first call on his services in the matter in which he has been retained. Retainers are either general or special. A general retainer retains counsel for all pro ceedings in which the person retaining is a party. A special retainer is one which only applies to some particular cause or action. In the United States, the retainer is much less formal than in Eng land, and is used to refer to the preliminary fee given a counsel to take or defend proceedings. See ADVOCATE; BARRISTER.

Retainer of Debt.—In connection with the administration of an estate under a will, it is the right of the personal representa tive—whether executor or administrator—of a deceased person to retain in respect of all assets which have come into his hands a debt due to himself in his own right whether solely or jointly with another person as against creditors of an equal degree, and this even though his debt is barred by the Statutes of Limitation (see Administration of Estates Act 1925, s. 34; Taylor v. Deblois, Fed. Cas. No. 13,79o). The appointment of a receiver deprives the rep resentative of his right except as regards assets which come to his hands prior to the appointment of the receiver.