Ethics

In my recent encounter with the medical profession, I noticed that doctors and nurses who checked in on me in the hospital would somewhere along the way touch a shoulder or a knee, make eye contact and smile. I wouldn't be surprised if this is part of a treatment regimen, a way of making a human connection that can have beneficial psychological value. 

This put me in mind of Arnie Becker, the smart, handsome, and somewhat oily divorce lawyer on L.A. Law. In (I think) the very first show, Arnie deals with the anxieties of Lydia, an attractive female client, who has discovered that in fact, contrary to what she believed, her husband DID leave her for another woman.

Lydia, almost 40, is apprehensive at life as a divorced mother of two. She says she no longer looks good in a bikini. Arnie tells her that he's sure she looks good "in or out of a bikini."  He emphasized "out."

Does that cross a line? On one hand, it can be seen as  coming on to a current (matrimonial) client, something he continues to do later in the representation ("in two months you'll be inviting me to dinner"). On the other hand, it offers a confidence-building boost from an attractive man of about the same age to a distraught client. While that is not strictly, or even loosely, speaking a legal task, and Arnie could certainly not be blamed if he had not remarked on Lydia's appearance in or out of a bikini, it may in fact make Lydia feel better about herself. 

Does the answer to my question depend on how the client reacts? On how the lawyer could reasonably expect the client to react?