NEWSLETTER-2020-metin

270 NEWSLETTER 2020 An attorney agreement freely established between the attorney and the client who requests legal assistance is a contract in which the attorney undertakes to provide legal assistance, and the client under- takes the debt payment to the attorney in return for the work done. Article 163 of the Law determines the scope of the attorney agreement and has made it obligatory to provide attorney services in exchange for a fee. In this context, the most important factor that distinguishes the attorney agreement from other contract of mandate is the attorney fee 2 . Attorney fees are regulated, in detail, in Article 164 of the Law. According to the said Article, there are two types of attorney fees: • Contractual attorney fee: The fee arising from the contractu- al relationship between the attorney and the client. • Legal attorney fee (counterparty’s attorney fee): The fee, which is ruled for the benefit of the party who is determined to be right at the end of the proceedings in accordance with the MinimumAttorney Fee Tariff, and which is in the nature of trial expenses. Joint Liability for the Attorney Fee Pursuant to Article 165 of the Law, “(…) both parties will be responsible for the payment in favor of the other party’s attorney in cases concluded with an agreement, and which are left without further follow-up.” In this context, joint liability is not only foreseen for the settlement, but also for the cases that result in an agreement between the parties, and are left without further follow-up. In practice, the parties may elect to pursue the case or enforce- ment proceedings without notifying the court, even though they have resolved the dispute by settlement, or the plaintiff may waive the lawsuit, or the defendant may accept the case as a result of their agree- 2 While in the last paragraph of Article 502 of the TCO , it is stipulated that the attorney will be entitled to the fee only if there is a contract or custom, and the contract of mandate is not mandatory, the attorney agreement is foreseen to be a fee for work performed. If the contract is made free of charge, the situation should be reported to the bar association.