Duty to the public Flashcards
a lawyer must not seek to avoid accepting a court-appointed client except
for good cause
Examples of good cause include
1) unreasonable financial burden
2) inability to properly effectively represent the client due to a personal issue.
3) The lawyer finds the client so personally repugnant that the lawyer could not represent the client effectively
4) The lawyer has prior confidential information relevant to the client’s case
5) The client’s inability to pay would impose an unreasonable financial burden on the lawyer
May a lawyer be disciplined for violating the Model Rule regarding annual pro bono service?
No, because a lawyer is encouraged, but not required, to perform 50 hours of pro bono services per year
Does a lawyer who is a director of a legal services organization that provides services to the poor have a lawyer-client relationship with the persons served by the organization?
A director, officer, or member of such an organization does not have a lawyer-client relationship with persons served by the organization, but there can be potential conflicts between the interests of those persons and the interests of the lawyer’s regular, paying clients.
With respect to quick-advice legal hotlines, which statement regarding the lawyer-client relationship is most correct?
A lawyer-client relationship is created in a quick-advice situation, but neither party expects it to continue past the quick-advice stage
A lawyer wants to serve as a director of a legal services organization. The organization represents a client with an adverse interest to one of the lawyer’s regular clients. May the lawyer serve as a director of the legal services organization?
Yes, but she may have to refrain from participating in certain decisions of the organization
a lawyer must refrain from participating in a decision or action of the organization if doing so would adversely affect the representation of one of the organization’s clients whose interests are adverse to those of a client of the lawyer
Are any of the Rules of Professional Conduct applicable to lawyers in a quick-advice legal hotline setting?
Yes, but the conflict of interest rules are relaxed
A lawyer wants to serve as a director of a legal services organization. The organization represents a client with an adverse interest to one of the lawyer’s regular clients. As part of his duties as director, the lawyer must
Refrain from taking part in a decision that could harm the organization’s client
A lawyer volunteers his time working for a quick-advice legal services hotline. In this setting, are the communications between a lawyer and client considered confidential?
Yes, the ethical rules of confidentiality are applicable to quick-advice settings
A lawyer who participates in a quick-advice program ordinarily has no time to conduct an ordinary conflict of interest check, so the general rules for current-client conflicts and former-client conflicts don’t apply unless the lawyer
actually knows that giving the quick advice creates a conflict of interest
A lawyer must not make a statement that the lawyer knows is (**) about the qualifications or integrity of a judge, hearing officer, or public legal official, or about a candidate for a judicial or legal office. The same rule applies to statements made with…
false, reckless disregard as to truth or falsity.
However, this rule doesn’t prohibit a lawyer from giving an informed and candid opinion
