Law Blog

Finding legal services for free can be a difficult task, but if you search diligently you may be able to get free legal advice, consultation or representation.  One way is to locate your nearest law school.  Law schools often have free events where lawyers assist students in giving information.  A caveat to this is you may need to qualify to participate in such programs by having a household income of lower than $40,000/year.

An alternative to this is finding about other state sponsored pro bono programs.  It is high recommended by State bars that lawyers strive to meet a certain number of pro bono hours each year.  These programs are commonly held within the community and give clients in need of legal advice a chance to receive it for free.

You may also want to contact a lawyer directly and explain your situation.  Sometimes circumstances are so extenuating that an attorney may take the case on a pro bono basis.  Often times, an attorny who takes such a case will believe strongly in the merits or cause.

These problems usually flow from the fact that troubling issues of professional ethics involve conflicts among 3 ideas that are central to the lawyer’s role: the lawyer as fiduciary, the lawyer as an officer of the court functioning in an adversarial system, and the lawyer as an individual w/ personal values and interests.

The Lawyer as Fiduciary

A fiduciary relationship is different from a regular business relationship. A lawyer’s contractual relationship is secondary to the duties that they owe to their clients. Fiduciary obligations that lawyers owe their clients include 3 specific duties: duty of competence, duty of loyalty, and duty of confidentiality.

The Lawyer as an Officer of the Court in an Adversarial System

An adversarial system has (1) a neutral decisionmaker, (2) competent advocates zealously presenting the positions of each of the interested parties, and (3) rules of procedure fairly designed to allow the presentation of relevant evidence to the decisionmaker.

The Lawyer as a Person with Interests

The rules contain some regulation of fee agreements and business transactions between lawyers and clients and limitations on advertising and solicitation, and prohibitions on unauthorized practice of law. However, the model rules only scratch the surface in which business considerations shape a whole range of issues of professional ethics. Professional obligations also can involve conflict concerning personal beliefs and representation.