Hi Dianne,
Here's my take on you ssome of your questions.
If a CFL lawyer is amember of a lawfirm then when the client hires the
lawyer she hires the firm.
Therefore, if the process terminates the CFL lawyer must withdraw as counsel
for the client and all members of the lawyer's lawfirm are disqualified from
stepping in as trial counsel.
The question about having a lawyer with whom one is sharing office space is
not anywhere as clear cut. Under that circumstance I would worry about
creating an impression of impropriety and if I were the new trial counsel
for the other party I would consider wheter to raise a conflicts issue in
the trial court.
Finally, I think that there is no ethical reason why a CFl lawyer could not
have an associate fill in provided that the associate is a trained CFl
attorney, the client agrees and the other CFL lawyer and his client are
consulted about the matter in advance and agree to proceed with a
substitute. However, as a practical matter, I would not send in associate
to sub for me because much of the value the CFL lawyer has for the client
is his her familiarity with the subtleties of the interpersonal dynamics
that has developed between allof the participants during the the preceeding
sessions. a newcomer cannot be possessed of that knowledge and my fear
would be that chnging the group composition might erect a major roadblock to
progress.
Martha Milam
----- Original Message -----
From: "dzomper" <dzomper@xxxxxxx>
To: <CollabLaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 10:39 AM
Subject: [CollabLaw] who does a client hire: indiv attny or firm?
Good Morning Everyone:it
I have several questions for anyone interested in responding:
1. If a lawyer in a "Firm" signs a collaborative agreement in a case, is
kosher for that lawyer tothe
a.) have an associate or partner fill in at a 4-way meeting for example if
signed attorney is unavailable?become
b.) if the CL process busts out, can another attorney in the "FIRM"
trial counsel? What about an attorney that the CL attorney office sharesstrains of
with?
2. Who is using a multi-discipline team approach in their cases from the
beginning of the case? How is this working? There seems to be two
CL forming in the country, possibly with lots of crossover?
your thoughts and experience are welcome.
Dianne Zomper
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
CollabLaw-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
