Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Crime & Federalism

Criminal Law

: Crime & Federalism

Is Legal Ethics About Protecting Clients?

If this post gets noticed, I expect it to be controversial.  Some will use emotion or make other bad arguments.  But those arguments all fail, when you look at lawyering from the client's perspective.  If you were a client, what conduct would harm you most:1) You gave your lawyer a $5,000 retainer.  The lawyer is to draw on this retainer only after work has been performed.  But you nonetheless expect the lawyer to perform $5,000 worth of legal services.  One week later, your lawyer is short on cash and can't make payroll.  Using the $5,000 he put into a checking account for you, he starts writing $5,000 worth of checks.  Two weeks later, he performs $5,000 of legal work for you.  Feeling a little guilty about the interest-free loan you gave him, he actually give you a couple of hours of free work as interest...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime & Federalism on December 31, 2008 (boomark / email).