What are some of the ethical issues that arise in the area of family law practice?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Confidentiality and UPL should be mentioned as two prime issues – confidentiality because of the sensitive nature of the information required, and UPL because a paralegal may become more than a contact person in the course of a bitter or scary divorce – more of a lifeline. Conflict of interest arises particularly if a firm has been the “family firm” prior to a divorce, and issues concerning unbundled legal services are often connected with parties who don’t believe they can afford an attorney, abut are afraid to go pro se without some sort of back-up. Fees always present issues, particularly the maintenance of client trust accounts, often with sizeable retainers paid up front. Accurate time-keeping is particularly important if attorney’s fees are to be awarded, or time for tax advice broken out for tax deductions. Solicitation and advertising might be mentioned, but they generally don’t impact a paralegal as much as other issues. The Model Rules require client communications be maintained, and that is particularly important in a divorce custody issue, or adoption, since these issues are of paramount importance to the client. Finally, competence needs to be considered: can the paralegal competently perform the assigned task? Is there training and adequate supervision?