伦理意见250

有义务在未付费用时将前客户的资料转交给新澳门赌场官网

Assertion of a retaining lien on work product to secure payment by a former client of unpaid fees is disfavored and should be undertaken only where it is clear that 所有 the conditions of 规则1.已满足第8(i)条.

适用的规则

• 规则1.8(i)(客户档案留置权)
• 规则1.16(d)(终止代理)

调查

从1988年到1993年, 询问者是哥伦比亚特区一家澳门赌场官网事务所的合伙人或澳门赌场官网, 专门在联邦通信委员会(FCC)面前代表客户. 1993年，他离开了那家澳门赌场官网事务所，独自开业. Many of the clients served by Inquirer at his former law firm have “followed” him to his new sole practice and have authorized Inquirer to tell his former law firm that they instruct the firm to turn their files over to Inquirer. 然而, at least some of these clients have outstanding unpaid balances of fees owed to Inquirer’s former firm.

Inquirer raises a number of questions as to whether particular types of documents in the files of clients with unpaid fees owed to the firm must be turned over to him, 根据客户的要求, 根据规则1.16(d), or whether his former firm is entitled to withhold such materials as “work product” 根据规则1.8(i).

讨论

The rules governing disposition of client files when a representation is terminated are reasonably clear. 根据规则1.16(d) a lawyer is required to “take timely steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client’s interests” in connection with termination of representation, 包括“交出客户有权拥有的文件和财产”.规则1.16(d)还规定, 然而, 澳门赌场官网“可以在规则1允许的范围内保留与委托人有关的文件”.8(i).”

规则1.8(i), 反过来, 允许澳门赌场官网对客户的档案施加留置权(通常称为“保留留置权”)1 为了确保支付费用——但只是在非常有限的范围内. 根据《澳门赌场官网》第5-103(A)条, 在哥伦比亚特区实施到1990年, lawyers were broadly permitted to assert a retaining lien on a client’s files to secure payment of fees. 但是，本委员会对这条规则的解释也很狭隘, 这句话的意思是, 有一种观点认为, 保留留置权是不允许的. 看到 意见没有. 59(未注明日期)，注13. 另请参阅 意见没有. 119(四月十九日), 1988), in which we described the retaining lien as “an unattractive and potenti所有y quite harmful tool.”

These concerns were reflected in the adoption of the District of Columbia’s version of the Model 职业行为准则, 1991年生效. 规则1.8(j) of the ABA’s Model 规则 broadly permits the assertion of liens on client files to secure payment of fees, D .的平行规定.C. 职业行为规则，规则1.8(i)要窄得多. 它禁止澳门赌场官网对客户的档案施加留置权, 除了澳门赌场官网自己的工作成果, 并且只在工作产品没有被支付的范围内.规则1.8(i) further provides that the exception permitting a lawyer to withhold work product from the client does not apply when the client has become unable to pay the outstanding fee or when withholding the work product “would present a significant risk to the client of irreparable harm.“正如我们最近在第7号意见中所讨论的那样. 230(1992)，对规则1的评论.8(i) and its “legislative history” emphasize that surrender of 所有 files to the client at the termination of a representation is the general rule, 并且工作产品例外应该被狭义地解释. 因此 Comment [9] emphasizes that only “materials generated by the lawyer’s own effort” are included within the work product exception and that not 所有 工作成果可以“仅仅因为没有支付部分澳门赌场官网费而被扣留”.“同样, Comment [10] notes that the possibility that a client “might irretrievably lose a significant right or become subject to a significant liability because of the withholding of the work product” constitutes irreparable harm, 即使没有支付费用，也要求交出工作成果.

总而言之, it seems clear to us that retaining liens on client files are now strongly disfavored in the District of Columbia, 允许这种留置权的工作产品例外应该狭义地解释, and that a lawyer should assert a retaining lien on work product relating to a former client only where the exception is clearly applicable and where the lawyer’s financial interests “clearly outweigh the adversely affected interests of his former client.” D.C. 酒吧Op. 59, 在上.

考虑到这些原则，我们转而讨论询问者提出的具体问题.

The Inquirer asks first whether particular categories of client files f所有 within the work product exception of 规则1.8(i). We agree with the Inquirer that files containing copies of applications filed with the FCC and amendments and correspondence relating to those applications—also filed with the FCC—are not within the work product exception. 不管它们的初始状态如何, 一旦这些材料被归档到公共机构, 它们不是工作产品. 类似的, we agree with the Inquirer that files containing pleadings filed with the FCC and authorizations issued by the FCC do not constitute work product. 我们也同意，由澳门赌场官网事务所以外的人(如.g., 其他当事人提出的诉状, 报纸上的文章, press releases) and correspondence from the client or third parties to the law firm obviously do not constitute work product, 因为它们不是由澳门赌场官网或澳门赌场官网事务所的其他人员编写的. 最后, 不应保留以前发给客户的信件副本, 在我们看来, 即使这样的拷贝在技术意义上被认为是工作产品.2

另一方面, 我们认为，像诉状草稿这样的材料, 申请或其他文件, notes of meetings and research memoranda and materials constitute work product eligible for the 规则1.(i)例外，只要它们是由澳门赌场官网或澳门赌场官网事务所的其他雇员准备的.

询问者还询问了工作产品留置权的范围，当客户, 在代理终止时, 已经支付了部分澳门赌场官网或澳门赌场官网事务所的费用，但不是全部. 正如评论[9]所言, not 所有 of the work product can be withheld merely because a portion of the lawyer’s fees has not been paid. Where the unpaid fees can be identified on a temporal basis, it is relatively easy to apply 规则1.8(i):只有在未付费用期间产生的工作成果才可予以扣留. 因此, 例如, 如果终止的客户在1992年之前支付了费用, 未付费用只涉及1993年完成的工作, 澳门赌场官网事务所只能扣留1993年的工作成果. 未付费用所涵盖的时间不能明确确定的, 澳门赌场官网只能扣留那些明显没有支付报酬的工作成果.

最后, 《澳门赌场官方软件》指出，他的一些客户建议他的前公司这样做, because of the Inquirer’s “continuing need to respond to FCC inquiries and requirements in a timely fashion in (the client’s behalf), your withholding any portion of the work product of the [client’s] files would present a significant risk of irreparable harm to my interest.《澳门赌场官方软件》询问客户的这一说法是否对前公司具有约束力, 排除它调用规则1.(i)留置权未付的工作产品. 我们相信, 而前客户的这种主张，本公司必须给予极大的重视, 这不是决定性的. A lawyer must make his or her own judgment as to whether the client will be irreparably harmed if the work product is withheld. Of course, the lawyer must give the client the benefit of the doubt if the question is a close one.

调查没有. 93-6-13
通过:1994年10月18日

1. 规则1.8(i) does not address the question of when a lawyer may assert a retaining lien against client property other than files in the lawyer’s possession; that issue is presumably governed by statutory or common law of the jurisdiction.
2. 如果澳门赌场官网希望保留发给前客户的文件副本, 澳门赌场官网必须承担制作这种副本的费用. 看到维.C. 酒吧Op. 168(1986年4月15日).