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Code Civ. Proc., § 285.4 · Chapter 1. Attorneys and Counselors at Law

Code Civ. Proc., § 285.4

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

The court, upon the granting of a motion for withdrawal pursuant to Section 285.2, may appoint any member of the bar or any law firm or professional law corporation to represent the indigent client without compensation, upon a showing of good cause. Nothing herein shall preclude the appointed attorney from recovering any attorneys’ fees and costs to which the client may be entitled by law. In determining the existence of good cause, the court may consider, but is not limited to, the following factors:

(a) The probable merit of the client’s claim.

(b) The client’s financial ability to pay for legal services.

(c) The availability of alternative legal representation.

(d) The need for legal representation to avoid irreparable legal prejudice to the indigent client.

(e) The ability of appointed counsel to effectively represent the indigent client.

(f) Present and recent pro bono work of the appointed attorney, law firm or private law corporation.

(g) The ability of the indigent client to represent himself.

(h) The workload of the appointed attorney.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Added by Stats. 1983, Ch. 279, Sec. 3.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP&sectionNum=285.4.
Text hash
sha256 b037b1a1a1c3120866d461d91bd5073496283f1e45352b5238d86a99e1dd6c39
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

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Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.