Law firm rules are some of the most demanding rules to follow.
The practice of a law firm is quite taxing and demanding, especially when you need to follow a certain set of rules.
However, these rules are intended to protect both the lawyers and the clients from legal and ethical issues.
These law firm rules also protect the image of a firm and maintain the high integrity of the legal profession.
In this article, we will cover some of the most common rules of professional conduct that affect lawyers daily.
Note that these rules can vary from law firm to law firm, state, and country, so make sure to review yours before joining a firm.
Ethical Duties of a Lawyer
Before we dive into actual rules, let’s talk about the ethical duties of a lawyer.
A lawyer’s ethical duties are mentioned in the preamble to the ABA Model Rules, which covers a complete set of responsibilities and obligations for a lawyer.
Since a lawyer is representative of clients and an officer of the legal system, they play an important role in maintaining justice.
Everything from their moral values to the eye of justice must be perfect for a thriving society.
Here are some of the most common ethical duties for a lawyer:
- Performing duties competently and diligently.
- Keeping information confidential and safe in all scenarios.
- Maintain a high level of communication with the clients.
Moreover, lawyers and attorneys should try their best to resolve conflicts with the general public and their clients.
They should also take into consideration the legal requirements, use legal procedures for work purposes, and give respect to their respective legal systems.
Unethical Acts for a Lawyer
There are also some unethical acts that lawyers do.
These actions are unethical for a lawyer as they violate the general ethical duties that we’ve mentioned above.
For example, if a lawyer fails to communicate, is not competent for the job, and doesn’t properly protect the data of the client, they would be held accountable and, worse, fired from the law firm.
This is why it’s so important to understand the rules of professional conduct and law firm rules since anything unethical can not only destroy the firm-to-client relationship but it can also affect the firm’s reputation.
Unethical activity will not only ruin the attorney’s reputation but can lead to malpractice claims known to be career-ending.
While these can be dealt with, we should always try to minimize the trouble whenever possible.
What Are the Rules of Professional Conduct?
The ABA Model is one of the most popular sets of rules for lawyers.
These ethical rules were created by the American Bar Association (ABA) in 1983 and have been continually improving over the years.
There are many rules that give birth to a well-known justice system, and ABA has various types of rules. For example, we have the client-lawyer relationship, counselor rules, advocate rules, transactions with persons other than clients, law firms and associations rules, public service rules, information and legal services rules, and integrity rules.
Below, we’re mentioning some of the key rules and the ones that make or break a law firm.
Rule 1.1: Competence
One of the core ethical duties of an attorney is to perform their work with absolute professionalism and competence.
Hence, legal practitioners have the obligation to do their job at a certain level and quality.
Model 1.1 states that the lawyer must provide clients with competent service and representation, meaning that you must show them an appropriate amount of legal skill, communication, preparation, and thoroughness.
Moreover, another addition in rule 1.1 advises using technology in the legal profession to improve the workflow.
Hence, now it has become essential for law firms to learn technological competence for law firms.
Rule 1.15: Safekeeping Property
It is an ethical responsibility and duty for lawyers in the safekeeping of property for clients.
Attorneys should keep clients’ funds in trust fund accounts.
These can include settlement funds, legal fees, or expenses paid in advance by the client itself.
While the ethical rules of managing trust accounts vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, it is important to know that they all share common themes and elements.
Firstly, you should never mix the firm funds with the client’s trust funds. Secondly, these rules require the firm to maintain accurate records of funds going in and out of the client’s trust funds.
Rule 1.2: Client’s Objective
One of the most important law firm rules is that lawyers should abide by a client’s decisions regarding the objectives of representation and should consult the client whenever needed.
The client sets the goal for the law firm, and the attorney is there to provide reasonable advice or practicality of their goal.
For example, the lawyer could recommend whether you want to accept or reject a settlement; however, ultimately, the decision goes to the client on what he or she wants to do. You should always prepare everything before you talk to the client, including what you hope to accomplish and how much you value communication.
Rule 1.2(c): Limited Representation Agreement
One of the most common problems that clients have is expensive attorneys. Interestingly enough, most attorneys agree, but that doesn’t mean all attorneys are going to be expensive. To counter this issue, ABA has introduced something called a limited representation agreement.
While it’s not appropriate under all circumstances, this tool allows clients to work with the attorney to limit the scope of representation to highlight issues or matters that they consider to have the highest risk.
This will allow lawyers to focus on the tasks that their clients think are important, and ultimately, they’re getting the best bang for their buck.
Rule 1.3: Diligence and Promtpness
Diligence and promptness are one of the main responsibilities of a lawyer. A lawyer must act professionally with promptness in representing the client and be diligent in their cases. Every attorney has to deal with an emergency once every blue moon. However, it’s not an excuse for constantly ignoring your clients.
You should have your priorities set, so you’re giving proper time and attention to your clients.
Rule 1.4: Communications
Communication is the first order of business. Beyond competence, diligence, and promptness, ethical rules from ABA also require lawyers to reach a certain level of communication. Clients hire lawyers for consultancy, and if there’s a complete lack of communication, it will fall under the top causes of legal malpractice claims.
Lawyers must respond to every question of clients and keep them in a loop. But it doesn’t mean deliberately keeping them in the loop. It means giving them the answers to their questions along with desired solutions. Lawyers must also keep their clients aware of legal matters.
Communication can be tough and sometimes a hassle, and that’s why attorneys need to leverage technology to keep their management and communication in order.
There are also time-tracking tools that help them create invoices, manage the clients, and stay sorted to avoid any malpractice claims.
Rule 1.5: Fees and Payments
Billing and service costs also come under a rule. As stated in model rule 1.5, attorneys shouldn’t charge for unreasonable fees or expenses as it comes under exploitation of their services. To ensure you don’t overcharge, the best practice is to make bills as accurate as possible by providing them with legal bills.
For hourly bills, you can use a tool like Time Analytics that will allow you to bill accurately and effectively with fewer chances of overcharging or related problems. The same goes for credit cards. One of the rules of law firms is not to pass any surcharges to the clients but instead, absorb the fees as a cost of doing business.
Some states even prohibit passing these surcharges to clients, while others have ethical rules with less prescriptive language. Hence, they use credit card payments and charge the clients a surcharge.
While this can be legal, always check the ethical rules of your respective jurisdiction for their specific rules on credit card processing fees.
Rule 1.6: Confidentiality
Confidentiality of information is the model rule 1.6, and it’s basically making reasonable adjustments to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of information related to the client. It’s because the information can be very valuable, often too confidential, that leaking it would cause harm to the case.
There was a 2016 class action against a Chicago-based law firm that demonstrated the gravity of breaching this policy. It was an alleged failure to protect sensitive client information, and it messed up the case.
Fortunately, you can use modern-day software to counter this issue, and that’s why you need a good project management and time-tracking tool to store all the information.
Final Verdict
Law firm rules of professional conduct for lawyers are important guidelines for an attorney’s day-to-day responsibilities. These rules incorporate all the basic actions and things you should care about if you want to succeed as a lawyer in a law firm.
From being professional to avoiding any lawsuits, problems, and loss of clients to avoiding malpractice, you need these rules to be in place if you want to succeed as a lawyer in a law firm.
Saad Ali
Saad started his Content Writing journey in 2019 on Fiverr, where he catered to over 100 businesses in different niches like SaaS, Crypto, Meta, Gaming, Entertainment, and more.
