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1. There is no risk management value to preparing
forms, formulating guidelines and office procedures in advance to
providing new types of legal services in a lawyer's practice.
2. There have been few if any claims for legal
malpractice arising solely from delivering unbundled legal services.
3. A lawyer may not ethically limit the scope of
his legal services to serving as a scrivener in preparing a marital
settlement agreement.
4. Any limitations concerning the scope of a
lawyer's representation should be stated explicitly and completely.
5. Every agreement limiting the scope of the
legal services must be in writing.
6. If a lawyer serving as a lawyer scrivener
believes that the parties' agreement is grossly unfair or against
public policy, the lawyer should decline to act as a scrivener.
7. Giving the client a written statement of the
scope of legal services a lawyer intends to provide assists the client
in understanding the limitations of the lawyer's services.
8. A lawyer need not advise joint clients seeking
scrivener services to seek independent legal counsel and advice
regarding any written disclosure and consent to joint representation
and any work product prepared by the lawyer.
9. The scope of legal services can be structured
in prose text or as a checklist of tasks for which lawyer and client
each will be responsible.
10. If the scope of legal services is properly
limited, a lawyer is not required to do anything for the client
outside of the scope of those services.
11. A lawyer performing a scrivener role in
giving legal form to a document may assist the parties in negotiation
of the agreement.
12. A lawyer performing a scrivener role may
obtain the agreement of the parties to add any standard legal
provisions normally found in the type of agreement requested.
13. A lawyer serving as a scrivener must refuse
to provide other legal services requested jointly by the clients.
14. A lawyer serving as a scrivener can refuse to
advise the parties jointly about the pros and cons of their agreement
15. Representation of two or more clients as a
lawyer scrivener never involves a potential or actual conflict of
interest.
16. The conflict rules require oral disclosure
only of the relevant circumstances of joint representation in a single
matter.
17. Informed written consent is defined as the
client's written agreement to the representation following written
disclosure.
18. If a lawyer receives conflicting instructions
from clients so that the lawyer cannot follow one client's
instruction without violating another client's instructions, the
lawyer may choose which instruction the lawyer believes is the best.
19. A lawyer has a duty to disclose a
pre-existing relationship with one client that would adversely affect
the lawyer's independent judgment on behalf of the other client.
20. A lawyer must also disclose to joint clients
that in the event of future arbitration or litigation between the
parties, and one or both parties desired the lawyer to give evidence,
the attorney-client privilege would be waived. |
