Can I Change My Camp Lejeune Attorney? Yes. Here Is How.

Most people who ask this question signed with a firm in 2022 or 2023, when the Camp Lejeune Justice Act opened the door to claims, and have had little contact since. Some have an Elective Option offer sitting on the table and nobody to explain it. Some have read their contract for the first time and found a fee well above what federal law allows. Some are pursuing a claim for a parent or spouse who died and have learned that no estate was ever opened. The question is the same in each case: I’m unhappy with my Camp Lejeune attorney. Can I fire them, and what happens to my claim if I do?

You are not stuck, but switching is a decision with real mechanics and real risks, and it is not always the right one. This guide explains your right to fire a lawyer and hire another, the exact paperwork the Navy requires, what happens to the fee, the deadlines a switch can put at risk, and the situations where staying put is the better call. It also covers the Camp Lejeune attorney fee cap, because fees drive most of these questions.

Your Right to Fire Your Camp Lejeune Attorney

The attorney-client relationship belongs to the client. You can end it. Every state’s ethics rules, including Rule 1.16 of the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct, say that a lawyer who has been discharged must withdraw, and the contract you signed doesn’t change that. A contingency fee agreement is a promise about how the lawyer gets paid if the case succeeds. It is not a promise that you will keep that lawyer to the end.

The same rule requires the lawyer you leave to protect your interests on the way out: hand over your file, return any unearned money, and cooperate with whoever takes over. On a Camp Lejeune claim, that cooperation includes the close letter the Navy needs. A lawyer who drags that out or holds your records hostage is violating the rule, and the state bar is the place to report it.

What makes Camp Lejeune different is that the claim lives with the Navy. Every claim under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act is an administrative claim filed with the Navy’s Office of the Judge Advocate General, and the Navy will only deal with the representative it has on record. Firing your lawyer is not enough on its own. The Navy will not change the representative on a claim until it has a close letter from the prior attorney acknowledging that the representation ended, or, if the prior firm won’t respond, a sworn declaration in its place. This guide covers claims pending with the Navy, which is where the great majority of them sit. If a lawsuit has already been filed in your name, the process also runs through the court, and you should ask any firm you talk to whether it takes cases at that stage.

Unhappy With Your Camp Lejeune Attorney? What Is and Is Not a Real Problem

Start with what is not a problem. Slow is not the same as bad. Roughly 407,000 Camp Lejeune claims sit with the Navy and fewer than 1% have been resolved. A lawyer who has not settled your claim in three years is in the same position as every other lawyer in the country, and the wait by itself says nothing about the quality of your representation. The problems below are different in kind. They go to whether you are being represented at all:

• You can’t reach anyone. Calls go unreturned for weeks. You have never spoken to a lawyer, only an intake vendor. Nobody can tell you who is handling your claim.
• Nobody can tell you your claim status. Every claim has a Navy claim number and a portal record. If the firm can’t give you the number, the filing date, and what the Navy has asked for, something is wrong.
• Your records were never gathered. Service records, housing records, and medical records are the whole case. Ask what the firm has collected. “We’re working on it” three years in is not an answer.
• A wrongful death claim with no estate opened. When the claim is for someone who has died, the court that handles estates has to open an estate and appoint a personal representative. That step matters because only the personal representative has legal standing to pursue a claim on behalf of an estate. Ask whether the estate has been opened and who was appointed. If the firm hasn’t done it, or can’t tell you, the gap is in the claim itself.
• You got an Elective Option offer and no explanation. The offer letter starts a short clock. If no one walked you through the tier, the time-on-base calculation, and what declining means, you were not represented when it counted.
• The fee is over 25%. Federal law caps fees on these claims at 20% and 25%. A 33%, 40%, or 45% contingency fee conflicts with that cap. It can often be fixed without changing lawyers, as explained below.
• You were pressured. Told to accept an offer without a discussion, or told to sign a new agreement with a different firm you never chose. Both happen.

When Firing Your Lawyer Is the Wrong Move

Three situations in particular call for staying where you are, at least for now.

The delay is the government’s, not your lawyer’s. The Navy took years to begin resolving claims at any volume. The Justice Department’s Elective Option offers didn’t start moving in numbers until 2024 and 2025. If your firm filed your claim on time, gathered your records, and answers your calls, the wait is not a reason to leave. Our guide to when Camp Lejeune settlements will be paid walks through the realistic timeline.

Your Elective Option offer was lower than you hoped. The offer comes from a government grid: your qualifying illness and how long the government decided you were on base. Your lawyer didn’t set it. Our explanation of Camp Lejeune settlement tiers and amounts shows how the grid works. We represent about 700 Camp Lejeune claimants in 48 states, and when the government shorted six of our own clients, we took the Justice Department to court over it. The judges ruled they have no authority to second-guess the offers. A different firm would have gotten the same grid number you did.

How to Fire Your Camp Lejeune Lawyer and Hire a New One, Step by Step

Do these in order. The order matters more than people expect, because the biggest risk in changing lawyers is a deadline coming due while the claim is between them.

1. 1Get your facts first.Before you say anything about leaving, ask your current firm for your Navy claim number, the date the claim was filed, any Navy acknowledgment or deficiency notice, any Elective Option letter, whether a lawsuit has been filed, and, for a wrongful death claim, whether an estate has been opened. You are entitled to all of it. Write down the date of every letter.
2. 2Ask for a meeting.Sometimes the problem is one overworked paralegal, and one direct conversation fixes it. Say what you need: a named lawyer, a call back within a set number of days, a copy of what has been filed. If that doesn’t happen, you have your answer.
3. 3Get a second opinion before you fire anyone.Any reputable firm will review your claim and tell you where it stands for free. Bring the claim number and the letters. The second firm should be willing to tell you if your current lawyer is doing fine.
4. 4Notify the old firm in writing and request a close letter.Short, dated, polite. Say the representation is ending, ask for a close letter acknowledging the termination, and state plainly that the firm is not to withdraw your filed claim. Keep a copy and proof of delivery.
5. 5Get the close letter.This is the document the Navy needs before it will change who represents you. Check that it acknowledges the termination and does nothing to withdraw the claim. If it doesn’t arrive, follow up in writing. If the firm still won’t respond, the Navy accepts a sworn declaration signed by you and a new attorney instead, explained below.
6. 6Sign with the new firm.Preferably, sign once you have the close letter, so the old representation has clearly ended before the new one begins. Use your second opinion to choose the firm ahead of time, so you can sign as soon as the letter arrives, and don’t let an open deadline sit while you wait.
7. 7Move the claim to pro se status or to your new firm.With the close letter, you can ask the Navy to change your claim to pro se status, or give the letter to your new attorney, who asks the Navy to transfer the claim to the firm’s portal account. Details below.
8. 8Confirm the Navy made the change.Log in to the portal, or have your new firm do it, and make sure the claim shows the right representative. Until that happens, the Navy will keep sending letters to the old firm.

The Navy’s Process: Request to Change/Update Claim Representative

The Navy’s Claims Management Portal has a dedicated form for changing who speaks for a claimant. It is not the same as amending a claim or withdrawing one, and the Navy says so on the form page. Your claim stays filed, keeps its number, and keeps its filing date. Only the representative changes.

The page lives at clclaims.jag.navy.mil/Submit-Request. You need a portal account to use it. The Navy puts the burden of proof on whoever is asking for the change, so the paperwork has to be complete the first time. The key document is the close letter: a letter from your prior attorney acknowledging that the representation has ended. Without it, or the sworn substitute described below for firms that won’t respond, the Navy will not move the claim. For a substitution of counsel, meaning you are moving from one firm to another, the request should include:

• The close letter from your prior attorney acknowledging the termination of representation, or, if the prior firm will not respond, the sworn declaration described below.
• Your written notice of termination to the prior firm, which should also say that the firm is not to withdraw your filed claim.
• Proof that the new attorney is authorized to act for you.
• A copy of the new firm’s retainer agreement.

Your new attorney submits the request and asks the Navy to transfer the claim to the firm’s portal account. One point deserves emphasis: ending your lawyer’s representation and withdrawing your claim are two different things. You are leaving the lawyer, not dropping the claim, so the letter requesting the close letter should say in plain words that the firm is not to withdraw it.

If the prior firm won’t respond. The close letter is the normal route, but the Navy has a fallback for a firm that ignores the request. In place of the close letter, it accepts a dated letter signed by both you and your new attorney. The letter must include your full name, date of birth, the prior firm’s name, and your claim number, and it must declare under penalty of perjury that you attempted to notify the prior firm in writing on a specific date, that you now wish to be represented solely by the new firm, and that any dispute with the prior firm is between you and that firm, not the Navy. Use it only after your written requests have gone unanswered, and keep proof of each one.

The same form covers three other situations: a claimant who ends a lawyer’s representation and wants to proceed alone, which also starts with the close letter, a claimant who filed alone and is now hiring a lawyer, and a family member stepping in as administrator or executor after a claimant’s death. Each has its own document list. The estate version requires the death certificate, photo identification, and letters of administration or testamentary. If a lawyer was involved at any point, the Navy wants that firm’s termination or retainer agreement too.

Which Navy Request Applies to You

Questions about the form go to the Navy at clclaims@us.navy.mil or (757) 241-6020. The Navy does not publish a processing time for representative changes. In our experience the portal is the only reliable channel; a letter mailed to the Washington Navy Yard address is not a substitute for the online request.

What Happens to the Fee When You Switch

This is the fear that keeps people in bad representation: that leaving means paying twice. It doesn’t.

Start with the cap. Camp Lejeune claims run through the Federal Tort Claims Act’s procedures, and 28 U.S.C. § 2678 limits attorney fees on those claims to 20% of an administrative settlement and 25% of a judgment or settlement after suit is filed. A lawyer who collects more faces a fine and up to a year in prison. The Justice Department has told the court, repeatedly, that it reads the cap to apply to Camp Lejeune claims. Our Camp Lejeune attorney fees guide walks through the statute, the government’s position, and the comparison with what many mass-tort firms charge.

Fob & Foster charges 20% if your claim resolves with the Navy and 25% if it resolves after a lawsuit is filed. Never more, and nothing at all if there is no recovery.

Now the switch. A lawyer you leave can typically only seek payment for work actually done before a settlement offer has been made. How that gets handled depends on your contract, your state’s law, and the firms involved. Before you sign with a new firm, ask it in writing how any claim by your prior lawyer will be dealt with, and get the answer in the retainer agreement.

Costs are separate from fees. If the old firm paid for your medical records or a filing, it can ask to be reimbursed from the recovery. Ask for the itemized list in your termination letter so there are no surprises later.

One more point, because it comes up constantly. If the only problem is a contract that says 33% or 40%, you may not need to leave at all. Ask the firm, in writing, to amend the fee to the 20% and 25% the statute allows. Firms have done this when the law was pointed out to them. If the firm refuses, you then have a decision to make, with the rest of this guide in hand.

Deadlines a Switch Can Put at Risk

Nothing about changing lawyers pauses the calendar. Before you sign with anyone new, the two of you should sit down with every dated letter in your file and list what is running. Our Camp Lejeune lawsuit updates page tracks the dates that move.

• Elective Option response window. The offer letter sets the deadline to accept or decline, and it can be as little as 30 days. Missing it is treated as a rejection. See our Elective Option guide for how the tiers and time-on-base calculations work.
• The 180-day window after a denial. If the Navy denies your administrative claim, you have 180 days to file suit in the Eastern District of North Carolina. This one is unforgiving.
• Navy deficiency notices. The Navy sends these when a claim is missing documents, and they come with response dates. A notice sitting in your old firm’s inbox during the switch is one of the most common ways a change of lawyers goes wrong.

What a Second Opinion Should Cover

You can get one without firing anybody, and most Camp Lejeune firms will give one at no charge. A useful second opinion answers three questions from your claim number and your letters: whether the claim was filed properly, whether the records the Navy needs are in the file, and whether the deadlines are under control. For a wrongful death claim, add a fourth: whether an estate has been opened and a personal representative appointed. If the answers are all yes, you have no reason to move, and a firm that tells you so is doing its job.

If the answers are no, the second firm should explain what a switch would involve for your specific claim, including whether an open deadline makes the timing dangerous, before asking you to sign anything. A firm that leads with a contract instead of those answers is giving you a sales pitch, not an opinion.

Frequently Asked Questions About Changing Camp Lejeune Lawyers

I’m unhappy with my Camp Lejeune attorney. What should I do first?

Ask for your claim number, the date the claim was filed, and copies of every letter the Navy has sent, then request a call with a named attorney. If you can’t get those basic things, or the firm’s fee is above the 20% and 25% cap, get a free second opinion from another Camp Lejeune firm before you fire anyone. Then notify the old firm in writing and request a close letter, and sign with the new firm once you have it.

Can I change my Camp Lejeune attorney after signing a contract?

Yes. A contingency fee contract governs how the lawyer is paid if the case succeeds. It does not lock you into the lawyer. To make the change with the Navy, notify the firm in writing, request a close letter acknowledging the termination, and state that the firm must not withdraw your claim. Your new attorney then provides the close letter to the Navy and asks it to transfer the claim to the new firm’s portal account.

What happens to the attorney fee if I switch firms?

Federal law caps the attorney fee on a Camp Lejeune claim at 20% of an administrative settlement or 25% after a lawsuit is filed. A lawyer you fire can typically only seek payment for work actually done before a settlement offer has been made. How that is handled depends on your contract, your state’s law, and the firms involved, so ask the new firm in writing how any claim by your prior lawyer will be dealt with before you sign.

Does changing lawyers delay my Camp Lejeune claim?

Not if it is done correctly. The claim keeps its number and filing date; only the representative changes. The risk is the handoff, so request the close letter right away, sign with the new firm when it arrives, have the new firm submit the transfer promptly, and confirm the portal shows the new firm. A claim with an open deadline should not be moved until that deadline is handled.

What if my old lawyer won’t send a close letter?

Follow up in writing, keep proof of every request, and have your new attorney ask as well. If the firm still doesn’t respond, the Navy accepts a substitute: a dated letter signed by you and your new attorney, under penalty of perjury, stating that you attempted to notify the prior firm in writing on a specific date and that you wish to be represented solely by the new firm. It must include your full name, date of birth, the prior firm’s name, and your claim number. Questions go to the Navy at clclaims@us.navy.mil or (757) 241-6020. A lawyer who ignores a discharged client’s requests can also be reported to the state bar.

Can the attorney I fired keep my file?

No. The ethics rules require a discharged lawyer to surrender the papers and property the client is entitled to and to take reasonable steps to protect the client’s interests. A firm that refuses to release your Camp Lejeune file, including your service and medical records, can be reported to the state bar. Your new firm can also obtain the Navy filing directly through the portal once the representative change is approved.

My Camp Lejeune claim is for a family member who died. Does an estate need to be opened?

Yes. Only a personal representative appointed by the court has legal standing to pursue a claim on behalf of an estate, so a wrongful death claim needs an estate opened and a personal representative appointed. Ask your lawyer whether that has been done, who was appointed, and whether the Navy has the letters of administration or letters testamentary. If no estate has been opened, the claim is missing a basic step, and that is a legitimate reason to get a second opinion or change attorneys.

My lawyer charges 40%. Is that legal for a Camp Lejeune case?

Under 28 U.S.C. § 2678, fees on claims handled through the Federal Tort Claims Act process are limited to 20% administratively and 25% in litigation, with criminal penalties for exceeding the cap. The Justice Department has stated that the cap applies to Camp Lejeune claims. Ask your firm in writing to reduce the fee to 20% and 25%; many will. If it refuses, the rest of this guide explains how a change of representation works.

I have an Elective Option offer right now. Should I switch first?

Usually not. The offer letter gives you as little as 30 days to respond, and a change of counsel inside that window can cost you the offer. Get a second opinion on the offer immediately, make your current lawyer meet the deadline, and then change firms if you still want to. The one exception is a firm that will not respond at all; in that case, call a new firm the same day.

Can I represent myself after firing my Camp Lejeune lawyer?

Yes. Once you have the prior attorney’s close letter acknowledging the termination, you can ask the Navy to change your claim to pro se status. If the firm won’t respond, the Navy accepts a dated letter you sign under penalty of perjury stating that you notified the firm in writing and will represent yourself. Your request to the old firm should still say that it is not to withdraw the claim. You can hire a new lawyer later.

Questions About Your Camp Lejeune Claim

Fob & Foster represents roughly 700 Camp Lejeune claimants in 48 states. Our fee is 20% of an administrative settlement and 25% after a lawsuit is filed, and nothing if there is no recovery.

If you have a question about where your claim stands or how the Navy’s process works, you can call (205) 407-6009 or toll-free (866) 837-1010, or send us a message. Have your claim number and any letters nearby. There is no charge for the conversation.

Fob James, IV

Fob James obtained a B.S., in software engineering from Auburn University and then continued his education by getting his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law. After working for a large national firm for several years, Fob found that his passion was fighting for individuals who have been seriously injured or wronged by others. Fob believes that the jury is the great equalizer to the power and influence that large corporations have in society. Many of Fob’s cases are high profile and have been featured in, among others: Bloomberg News, PlanAdvisor, AL.com, PlanSponsor, National Law Review, and BusinessInsider. For his work in obtaining numerous multi-million dollar outcomes for his clients, Fob has been recognized by: National Trial Lawyers Top 100, SuperLawyers Rising Star (2020-2026), Birmingham Business Journal Who’s Who in Law (2023-2025), and TrustAnalytica – Top Personal Injury Lawyers in Alabama.