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8 hours agoDarlena Wills
Module 1 [Attorney- Client Relationship]
COLLAPSE
Client – Lawyer Relationship

Lawyers have some very pointed rules relating to the performance of their jobs; these rules help guide them through various ethical scenarios. The legal profession under the King of England did not begin with trained lawyers, instead, accomplished men were allowed to represent friends or acquaintances. The King permitted a few of these men to perform this function regularly and they were governed by rules known as Canons. Canons form the basis of the Model Rules of today’s American Bar Association (Lewinbuk, 2019).

Sacred to their practice, lawyers must demonstrate expertise in communication, competence, confidentiality, and the proper handling of conflicts. The first of the Model Rules, is competence which states, “A lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client. Competent representation requires the legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation” (American Bar Association Model Rules, n.d.). This competence may range from maintaining continuing legal education to the lawyer maintaining California’s standard of “A lawyer shall not intentionally, recklessly, with gross negligence, or repeatedly fail to perform legal services with competence” (Carr, 2018). It is imperative that the lawyer represent his client competently and sufficiently as mentioned in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 3:5 which tells us, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God” (The Thompson-Chain Reference Study Bible NKJV, 1997).

Perhaps the most sacred Rule is that of attorney-client confidentiality because without it, the client may not feel comfortable disclosing all the details of their case to their lawyer. The attorney-client privilege is different in that it protects the attorney from disclosure (Colombo Law, 2018); both are of the utmost import to the client’s full disclosure to the attorney. The Courts take this Rule most seriously as evidenced by the case of Alton Logan, an innocent man who remained in jail 26 years to avoid two attorneys of his co-defendant from violating confidentiality.

Communication is a significant Rule, it may apply to communicating the amount of money the client is being charged and for what services, telling the client about relevant circumstances and even communication about conflicts. Conflicts can be defined as conflict between profession duties and personal interest such as representing clients with differing interests simultaneously, representing someone with whom the attorney is sexually involved or current and former client conflicts. Conflicts must be dealt with according to The Rules which give the lawyer ethical standards to practice by. The legal profession is greatly served by these professional ethics which provide a guide for various and differing circumstances.

References

B.B. Kirkbride Bible Company. (1997). The Thompson-Chain Reference Study Bible NKJV.

Carr, D. (n.d.). Ethics in Brief. Ethics in Brief – Simple Competence: Surprisingly Complex. https://www.sdcba.org/?pg=Ethics-in-Brief-2018-06-18.

Colombo Law (Ed.). (2018, May 1). Attorney-Client Privilege and Confidentiality. Colombo Law. https://www.colombolaw.com/west-virginia-blog/understanding-the-differences-between-attorney-client-privilege-and-confidentiality/.

Lewinbuk, K. (2019). Connecting Ethics and Practice. VitalSource Bookshelf Online. https://libertyonline.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781543809947/cfi/6/44!/4/298/2@0:100.

Model Rules. American Bar Association. (n.d.). https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/.

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