Potential conflicts among plaintiffs in a single action can be remedied by informed, written consent. Each client must agree in writing to the representation following your full written disclosure of the “relevant circumstances” and the “actual and reasonable foreseeable adverse consequences to them.” Check sample demand letter for breach of contract and discuss with the lawyer.
Example: Say a husband, purporting to represent the best interest of his wife, brings a potential negligence case to you. It’s dangerous not to have any contact with a client, and even more dangerous not to have contact with a potential client. A husband may claim that he has the best interests of his family members at heart, but if you tell him that you’re not willing to represent his injured wife in the case, and you don’t tell her that, you’re asking for trouble. You have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes. The husband may have his own agenda and may never tell the wife that there’s a potential claim. You may send you “off the hook” letter to the wife, but it may never reach her if the husband is controlling the mail. A telephone call can make all the difference.
• You’re outside of your comfort zone of practice, but you want the case anyway.
Example: You’re a criminal defense lawyer, but you’d like to get into personal injury. Don’t learn at your client’s expense. If you have a case in a new field you’d like to learn, associate with experienced counsel, and learn by doing it (or by watching it done) the right way.
• You really don’t care for the client, or for the lawyer on the other side of the case.
Clients we don’t like too much are the ones we tend not to talk to. They are also the ones most likely to sue us! This is a red flag situation, sure, but what can you do about it? If you’ve got staff, or other lawyers working for you, this is when to use them. Troublesome clients should be the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. If that’s not working for you, you should look for a way to refer the case to someone else.
This is when the potential for poor judgment increases. When things get very adversarial with opposing counsel, we tend to do things we might not otherwise do. Getting into a quarrel in a way that requires resolution by the court could end up prejudicing your client. Advising your client to reject a settlement offer because you don’t want to see the defense lawyer be a hero for the defendant can be disastrous. Here is where professionalism really counts!
Antony Stuart is an accomplished trial attorney and the principal of Stuart Law Firm in Los Angeles, focusing on individual and class-action consumer protection in the field of health insurance, invasion of privacy, misappropriation of likeness, product liability, and professional malpractice. In 1998, California Lawyer magazine named him one of California’s top 20 lawyers, and in 2000, Editor and Publisher magazine named him one of the nation’s “Three Kings of Privacy.”
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