What do Attorneys Do - Explained
Attorneys as members of the judicial system.
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What do attorneys do?
There are numerous areas of legal practice that are very unique and diverse. Within the judicial system, attorneys are fiduciaries and advocates to clients and representatives of the court.
Next Article: Other Players in the Judicial System Back to: US COURT SYSTEM
What are the areas of legal practice?
There are dozens of areas of law practice that are largely, if not completely, separate and unrelated.
Not all attorneys practice law in a courtroom; however, these standards apply equally to attorneys who provide legal services outside of the courtroom.
Very few attorneys are experts in more than a couple of legal areas. Below are some common areas of legal practice:
- Criminal Law, Civil Action (Tort Lawyers), Insurance Litigation, Secured Transactions, Administrative law, Contract law, Consumer Law, International shipping and trade, Immigration law, Intellectual Property law, Antitrust law, Securities law, Banking and Finance Law, Corporate Governance, Environmental law, Land and Property, Labor and Employment, Social Security & Disability, Elder Law, Estate Planning, Workers Compensation, Family law, Human Rights, Election law, Sports law, etc.
What are the Attorney's Duties to Clients?
Attorneys are counselors, advocates, and public servants. More specifically, they are fiduciaries and advocates for their clients interests and officers of the court.
The attorneys oath of office subjects the attorney to a professional code of ethics that governs all of her professional practice activities.
The attorney is generally trained to navigate the legal system. This may involve working within the courtroom.
Below are some universal truths about lawyers and those who practice in the courtroom.
Attorneys are Fiduciaries
Attorneys have a duty of trust, confidentiality, and loyalty to their clients. This means that, absent certain exceptions, an attorney cannot disclose confidences related to her by a client. This relationship requires a high degree of professional and ethical conduct. Lawyers are subject to sanction (or even disbarment) for failure to live up to these high ethical standards.
Attorneys can Represent their Clients in Court
Individuals may represent themselves or hire a licensed attorney to counsel and represent them before the court. Attorneys must be licensed by and admitted to a court bar to represent clients before that body.
Attorneys are Officers of the Court
Attorneys are officers of the court and are required to seek justice and to try cases on the merits only. While attorneys represent their clients, they have ethical obligations to the court to promote and seek justice. The system is not designed to be a battle of wits, but rather a presentation of evidence for a just decision.
Discussion Question
Do you think that the majority of the public is aware of all of the specialties that exist in legal practice? Why do you think that there are so many specialty areas of legal practice? Do all of these specialties call into question the professional competence of general practitioners? Do you find any conflict of interest for attorneys who are expected to be officers of the court as well as zealous advocates for their clients? [ht_toggle title="Discussion Input" id="" class="" ]
- The general public seems to be largely unaware of the many areas of specialty law practice. In fact, most people do not fully understand the role that attorneys play in the legal system. This lack of understanding begins to subside as individuals become increasingly familiar with various industries that require specific types of legal work. In today's society, the general practitioner attorney is largely ill-equipped to handle the many complicated legal matters that individual and business clients face. As such, the practice of law is becoming increasingly specialized. For trial attorneys representing clients, it is a balance between maintaining one's fiduciary and ethical obligations to the client while balancing one's role as an officer of the court. The ultimate goal is to seek justice. Many attorneys see their role in defendant clients as maintaining due process.
Practice Question
Grace has her own legal practice where represents corporations in contract law matters. She primarily works with investment banks to develop and memorialize corporate funding arrangements. One of her biggest clients, ABC, Inc., approaches her about suing a competitor, 123, Inc., in state court for anti-competitive behavior. Grace has very little experience in this area, but she decides to undertake some due diligence in order to adequately advise the client on the situation. From her investigation, she learns that there are really no grounds for a lawsuit against 123. More troubling, however, is Grace learns that ABC has been involved in an on-going scheme that could be considered fraudulent to its shareholders. Grace brings this matter to the attention of the CEO of ABC. The CEO tells her to ignore the shareholder matters and, if she wants to continue representing ABC in other matters, to initiate litigation against 123 immediately. What are the duties and ethical considerations that constrain Grace in this situation?
- Grace is limited by the state's rules of civil procedure, which prohibit filing frivolous claims. (Note: Rule 11(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is a relevant federal rule). Filing the suit on behalf of ABC would also violate her ethical duties to pursue justice. As for the illegal shareholder activity, she is not obligated to disclose past criminal conduct of a client that she learns in the course of representation. Nonetheless, she should cease from representing the client on matters related to this criminal activity. If, however, she believes that the conduct will be on-going and could result in harm to individuals (such as physical harm), she has may disclose that conduct if the client refuses to stop.
Related Topics
- US Courts (Intro)
- What is the Authority for Article III Courts?
- What is the Authority for Article I Courts?
- What is the authority for courts under Article II?
- What is the authority for Article IV Territorial Courts?
- What is the authority for State Courts?
- What are Article III Courts?
- What are Article I Administrative Courts?
- What are Article IV Territorial Courts?
- What are state courts?
- What is Subject-Matter Jurisdiction?
- What is Federal Court Subject-Matter Jurisdiction?
- What is State Court Subject-Matter Jurisdiction?
- Can a Federal trial courts hear state matters & vice versa?
- Can a Federal appellate court hear federal matters & vice versa?
- What is Personal Jurisdiction?
- How to establish Federal Court Personal Jurisdiction?
- How to establish State Court Personal Jurisdiction?
- What is a Long-Arm Statute?
- Who are the primary players in the state judicial system?
- What types of judges are part of the judiciary?
- What are the duties of trial judges in the legal system?
- Contempt of Court
- Declaratory Judgment
- Equitable Relief
- Equity - Definition
- What are the duties of Appellate Judges & Justices?
- De Novo Review
- What is the role of jurors in the judicial system?
- What number of jurors and juror votes are required for guilt or liability?
- What do Attorneys do?
- Who are the other players in the judicial system?
- US Circuit Court?
- US Supreme Court?
- Appeals from Legislative and Administrative Courts
- Appeals in the state court system?