Is it legal for an attorney to charge me if I never signed a retainer?

You initially hired him. Then you changed you mind and fired him. He is entitled to be compensated for whatever services and expenses he incurred up until the point that he was fired. Your retainer did not have to be in writing.

A contract, even a contract to retain an attorney, can be oral. There is nothing required by law to have a written retainer to hire counsel. In this e-mail and though your actions and words you clearly retained counsel. He consulted with you, either in person or by phone, executed the transaction, sent you retainer forms, tracked down your ticket and ensured you were not already in default, likely noticed the court that he was your attorney (and then had to notice them he was relieved), opened a file, closed a file, ledger payment and client refund, and who else knows what. He is entitled to recover in quantum merit for the services he provided you and work he did, and if it were me I would have charged you $200.00. The lights in our office do not come on for free, and our office staff are not volunteers. You did yourself a disservice by trying to defend this ticket yourself. The general public has no understanding of things such as the benefits of adjourning the case, the difference between a license suspension and license revocation, the difference between the DMV point system and the insurance merit point system, what the point reduction course is and when to take it, and what non-DMV point tickets still cause insurance increases under the insurance merit point system. $400.00 for a professional to go to court on your behalf, negotiate a plea that will keep your insurance low, and essentially do EVERYTHING for you for is a bargain - I charge $500.00 and it is still a bargain. When you catch a traffic conviction you have no idea on the behind the scenes problems and additional punishments that are subsequently imposed by the DMV. For example, there is a big difference between a 3 point speeding ticket and a 3 point non-speeding ticket for DMV regulatory punishments and insurance purposes that the average motorists has not a clue.

While you make some good points, the amount of money involved is minimal and it seems you're going to spend more time and energy on it than it's worth, but then again,so is he. If he hasn't yet come around as a result of the Better Business Bureau, you can still go to the Grievance Committee of the local Bar Association and seek relief. That should put an end to it. However, if you consulted with an attorney, you should expect he will charge you for his services to some degree. That hundred dollars would normally be earned in the first fifteen minutes in most law firms, whether it was for typing a name, opening a file or speaking with you on the telephone. My suggestion is you let it go, but you now know how to go forward if you want to. Good luck.