.... lawyers are shady. .... They operate right at the edge of the law and sometimes outside of it. But I don't think there is any law against an attorney accepting payment from someone to represent someone else.
bbm sbm
Yes, agreed, AFAIK, no law or Bar rule against atty accepting payment from 3rd party for legal services, on that basis alone, but IIUC, there are
conditions doing so.
IIUC, Bar/ethics rules do not prohibit atty from accepting $ from 3rd Person - X who wishes to pay for legal services of atty rep'ing Potential Client (Po-Cl), as long as -
1. atty discloses to PoCl that atty is to receive payment from 3d person (Person X) ,
2. PoCl ack's ^ in writing (but even w 1 & 2, atty may not be allowed to rep PoCl too) and
3. PoCl's
legal interests are not adverse to Person X's legal interests.
Say, atty
currently reps Big Cheese Dealer-Person X in crim drug charges or proceedings, seems poss, imo,
atty may be prohibited from rep'ing
Street Level Dude-PoCl in crim FM or Murder proceedings, in which illegal drugs may dev. as collateral issue,
even if drugs or dealing is not basis of crim charges.
Trying to think of clear-cut example of conflict but not coming up w ATM. Hoping our
legal wizards will jump in, either w
an example or to correct me.
And imo, atty may be prohibited from rep'ing PoCl on FM or Murder,
regardless of $ source, because of (potential for) conflict of interest in defending charges.
I could be wrong.
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FWIW
"In the legal profession, the duty of loyalty owed to a client prohibits an attorney (or a law firm)
from representing any other party with interests adverse to those of a current client.
The few exceptions to this rule require informed written consent from all affected clients, i.e., an "ethical wall".
In some circumstances, a conflict of interest can never be waived by a client.
In perhaps the most common example encountered by the general public, the same firm should not represent both parties in a divorce or child custody matter."
.
"Found conflict can lead to denial or disgorgement of legal fees, or in some cases (such as the failure to make mandatory disclosure), criminal proceedings.
In the United States, a law firm usually cannot represent a client if its interests conflict with those of another client,
even if they have separate lawyers within the firm, unless (in some jurisdictions) the lawyer is segregated from the rest of the firm for the duration of the conflict. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_of_interest bbm
