Maryland Attorney Rules of Conduct
- As a lawyer, you must respect your clients' privacy and dignity.lawyer isolated stamp image by Tjall from Fotolia.com
The State of Maryland has specific rules for the governance of its lawyers. They prohibit several behaviors which would endanger the attorney-client relationship. These codes prohibit any behaviors which would constitute a conflict of interest. They do not allow commingling of funds of an attorney with those of the clients he is responsible for representing. By following such rules, they maintain the public trust. - As lawyer, you must respect your client's wishes when it comes to any request the client may make concerning the objectives of his representation. According to the Cornell University Legal Information Institute website, you must abide by your client's wishes when it comes to the pleas the client wants to enter in a criminal trial, whether he wishes to plead no contest, guilty or not guilty. In addition, you must respect his right to have or to forgo a jury trial, regardless of what you feel the outcome might be for either decision.
- According to the Code of Conduct, a lawyer must promptly inform the client of any circumstances that might require the client's informed consent. You must promptly comply with your client's requests for information regarding his case, insofar as those requests are reasonable and legal. If such requests are against Maryland law, or against the Code of Ethics, then you must let him know.
- Whether it involves past or present clients, the Code of Conduct says you may not reveal anything you learned about your client while you were representing him without his consent.
- The Code of Conduct forbids you from imposing, or agreeing to collect an unreasonable fee for your services. The rules measure reasonability based on several factors, including the time and labor the defense of your client may require; the skill required to perform the task properly; the fee that other lawyers in town usually charge for the same service; and the outcome of the case.
- According to the Msba.org website, the Appendix to the Maryland Lawyers' Rules of Conduct says you must keep your funds and property in a separate place from those of your client and other third parties. Not only must you store them separately, you must label them as the property of that other party. You must keep money in a separate account, keeping accurate records of such monies and properties for a period of five years after your representation of that individual has ended.
