Monday Morning Answers – #78

Michael

Friday’s quiz is here.  Today, the answers follow the Honor Roll.

And today’s Honor Roll includes something special.  For quite some time, Laura Gorsky regularly appeared on the Honor Roll while studying & working in the 4-year Law Office Study program.  She was recently admitted to the bar and, today, makes her first Honor Roll appearance as a full-fledged attorney.  Congratulations Laura!

Honor Roll

  • Carolyn Browne Anderson, Green Mountain Power; Vermont PRB
  • Matt Anderson, Pratt Vreeland Kennelly Martin & White
  • Alberto Bernabe, Professor, John Marshall School of Law
  • Lindsay Cabreros, First American
  • Beth DeBernardi, ALJ, Department of Labor
  • Laura Gorsky, Esq., Law Office of David Sunshine
  • Robert Grundstein
  • Anthony Iarrapino, Esq
  • Keith Kasper, McCormick, Fitzpatrick, Kasper & Burchard
  • Patrick Kennedy, Dealer.Com
  • Tom Little, Esq.
  • Jeffrey Messina, Bergeron Paradis & Fitzpatrick
  • Hal Miller, First American
  • Jim Runcie, Runcie & Ouimette

Answers

Question 1

By rule, a lawyer has a conflict if there is a significant risk that the representation of a client will be limited by the lawyer’s responsibilities to another client, a former client or a third person or by a personal interest of the lawyer.  Rule 1.7

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, fill in at least ONE of the blanks. (hint: each blank is more than 1 word)

Question 2

Remaining on conflicts for a moment, a Comment indicates that ” ________  ___________ requires that each affected client be aware of the relevant circumstances of the material and reasonably forseeable ways that the conflict could have adverse effects on the interests of that client.”

Which fills in the blank verbatim?

  • A.    Dual Representation
  • B.     Informed Consent; Rule 1.7, Comment [18]
  • C.    Continued Representation
  • D.   Conflict Waiver

Question 3

Which type of fee agreement is different from the others?

  • A.   Contingent fee agreement
  • B.   An agreement to a non-refundable fee, paid in advance, that a lawyer may treat as the lawyer’s property before any legal services are rendered
  • C.   An agreement by lawyers in different firms to share the fee charged to a single client
  • D.   A standard hourly fee agreement

By rule, each of the others must be in writing.  The terms of a basic fee agreement must be communicated to a client, “preferably in writing,” but there is no requirement that the agreement be reduced to writing.  To avoid misunderstandings down the road, reducing a fee agreement to writing is best practice, even absent a rule requiring you to do so.

Question 4

Attorney called me with an inquiry.  She represents Defendant in a civil case and had a question related to some of the potential witnesses for Defendant.  I listened, then responded:  “by rule, you can make the request only if (1) the witness is a relative, employee, or agent of Defendant; or (2) if you reasonably believe that the potential witness’s interests won’t be adversely affected by agreeing to your request.”

What proposed course of conduct by Attorney do “make the request” and “your request” refer to?

Requesting a person other than a client to refrain from voluntarily giving relevant information to another party.  Rule 3.4(f); See, PRB Decision 78

Question 5

Oscar “Zeta” Acosta was a real-life attorney who practiced law in California.  In 1971, he and a famous writer took two trips to Las Vegas. On the first, the two attended the Mint 400, an off-road race that Sports Illustrated had dispatched the writer to cover.  A month later, they returned to Vegas, with the writer having been assigned by Rolling Stone to cover the National District Attorneys Association’s Conference on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

The writer’s trips to Vegas with Attorney Acosta inspired a book.  In the book, a lawyer whose character is based on Acosta engages in behavior that, at the very least, would result in a referral to the Lawyers Assistance Program, if not a disciplinary prosecution.

For 1 point each, who was the writer with whom Attorney Acosta travelled to Las Vegas? And, what was the name of the character who was based on Acosta?

The writer:  Hunter S. Thompson.  The trips inspired Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas.  Acosta served as the basis for the character Dr. Gonzo.

Fear and Loathing