Is the a retainer simply a synonym for a deposit?
<p>Is a typical retainer's purpose to be a deposit for work to be done? IANAL and seeking to understand why and how the typical retainer works.</p>

<p>A retainer can be either pre-payment for services (a deposit) or it can be a payment for a promise of availability (a "true" retainer). </p>

<p>A lawyer may ask for pre-payment to avoid extending credit to the client. A lawyer might want to do this if he's dealing with a new client or for some other reason thinks that he might not be paid. This type of pre-payment is refundable if the client does not use all of the deposit amount. </p>

<p>A "true" retainer is much less common, but still exists in some circumstances. A "true" retainer is paid purely to guarantee the availability of the lawyer; any work done by the lawyer will be billed separately. A client might want this to reserve a particular lawyer for some work in the future. The client would pay the retainer amount and the lawyer would promise not to take on any conflicting work that would prevent him from representing the client. This type of payment is usually non-refundable. </p>

<p>Those are basically the differences between the two usages. </p>

contract-law