Pla Law

Ethical Scenario-Legal Fees/Financial Matters
Scenario 1:
A solo practitioner’s wife was diagnosed with valve blockage and needed to have immediate open heart surgery. The hospital required the sum of $42,000.00 to be paid as a deposit towards their portion of the surgery based on their health insurance policy. The attorney wrote a check to himself from his trust account to cover the deposit required by the hospital. After a successful surgery and recovery by his wife, the attorney repaid the full $42,000.00 into his trust account. 1) Discuss the ramifications of the attorney’s actions referencing the rules.
2) What is the ethical obligation of the attorney’s paralegal if the paralegal knows of the attorney’s actions?
A lawyer is representative of clients, an officer of the legal system, and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice. As a representative of clients, a lawyer performs various functions. As an adviser, a lawyer provides a client with an informed understanding of the client’s legal rights and obligations and explains their practical implications. As an advocate, a lawyer zealously asserts the client’s position under the rules of the adversary system. As a negotiator, a lawyer seeks a result advantageous to the client but consistent with requirements of honest dealing with others. As an intermediary between clients, a lawyer seeks to reconcile their interests as an adviser and o a limited extent, as a spokesperson for each client. A lawyer acts as an evaluator by examining a client’s legal affairs and reporting about them to the client or to others. In all professional functions a lawyer should be competent, prompt, and diligent. With that being said the attorney should of not written a check to himself from his trust account to cover the deposit required by he hospital. He should of paid the cost out of his own account. Because of his action he failed to comply with an obligation or prohibition imposed by a rule is a basis for invoking the disciplinary process. The rule presuppose that disciplinary assessment of a lawyer’s conduct will be made on the basis of the facts and circumstances as they existed at the time of the conduct in question in recognition of the fact that lawyer often has to act upon uncertain or incomplete evidence of the situation. Violation of a rule should not give rise to a cause of action nor should it create any presumption that a legal duty has been breached. The lawyer violated Rule 4-1.2 Scope of Representation, Rule 4-1.3 Diligence, Rule 4-1.4 Communication (a) keeping client reasonably informed about status, The lawyer should have been truthful and honest even if had to deal with his wife. As an ethical obligation of the attorney’s paralegal if the paralegal know of the attorney’s actions he or she should be first option should e to inform another partner of the unthical behavior. If worked for the parner long enough and especially if you have a good relationship you will probably have a good idea of how he or she will receive the news. Even if he or she does not take it well, you have turned the problem over into the proper hands. If not sure who to approach speak to the local paralegal’s association or visit the American Bar Association’s website. You can submit the complaint in writing in a sworn statement, if you work for a multi-partner firm you wusually can not name the whole firm but only the lawyer who committed the transgression.