The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility recently released a new ethics opinion (number 525) on the recently amended Rule 1.14 on the duties owed to clients with decision making limitations." You can download a copy here. The abstract reads as follows:
A lawyer who determines that his client has decision-making limitations is obligated under Rule 1.14 to maintain an ordinary client-lawyer relationship insofar as possible, and lawyers owe clients with decision-making limitations the same obligations as any other client, including abiding by the client’s decisions regarding the objectives of the representation. In certain situations, lawyers may take protective action to prevent substantial injury to clients with decision-making limitations. In taking protective action, a lawyer may disclose protected information, but only to the extent reasonably necessary to prevent substantial injury to the client. While the recommendation of a guardianship may be an appropriate protective action in certain limited circumstances, the appointment of a guardian is a serious deprivation of the client’s rights and should not be pursued if other, less drastic, solutions are available. Although a lawyer may recommend or support the appointment of someone the lawyer reasonably believes would be a fit guardian, a lawyer whose client has decision-making limitations may not represent a third-party petitioning for a guardianship over the lawyer’s client. A lawyer representing a client with decision-making limitations may withdraw in accordance with Model Rule 1.16.
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