As most people within and without the legal profession already know, lawyers need to follow ethical rules that govern the practice of law. This usually means that lawyers cannot lie to their adversaries, since the administration of justice typically requires that practitioners be truthful in their statements to one another. While misstatements about settlement authority and other trivial issues might be dismissed, lawyers often lie in egregious ways. Attorneys should trust what their adversaries say, but always verify statements that are made, since lawyers may make misstatements about the facts or law to advance a client’s position.
At the beginning of my career, I was tasked with handling an appeal for a matter that another lawyer handled before the trial court. My adversary agreed to discontinue the case in the trial court, which would mean that the appeal we filed was moot. However, since one of the parties was not represented by counsel and could not be reached, we had to get the court to approve the stipulation of discontinuance that was signed by all of the parties who had active counsel.
As the deadline for my adversary to file opposition papers to our appeal approached, the adversary tried to bully me into discontinuing the appeal prematurely. However, there was a chance the court would not agree to sign our stipulation of discontinuance, in which case we needed to have the appeal remain active. This adversary called me one day and told me that he received a letter from the appellate court informing him that my appeal would be considered frivolous, and potentially subject me to sanctions, if I did not discontinue the appeal soon.
I was worried about what my adversary told me. At that point, I was only practicing law for a few years, and I did not know how the legal system operated. However, I knew that being found guilty of frivolous conduct would be horrible, and I was worried there was some truth to my adversary’s assertion. However, the more I thought about the situation, the more skeptical I became. Why would the appellate court send a letter to just my adversary and not me, the parties that was supposedly advancing frivolous conduct? I asked my adversary to forward a copy of this letter, and although he said he would, no letter was ever forwarded. It was clear that my adversary made up this story to try to bully me to prematurely discontinue my appeal.
Another time, I was reviewing court records, and I saw that a new action had been filed against my client. I reached out to the lawyer that brought the action for an extension of time to answer, and he said that the papers had already been served and my time to respond had expired. I conveyed that even if the papers had been served the same day the case was filed (a rare occurrence) an answer would still be timely, and I asked to see the affidavit of service. My adversary said the affidavit of service with the earlier service was on file in his office, but that he did not have access to this document at the moment.
When I later reviewed the filed affidavit of service, I discovered the papers had not even been served by the time that communication had taken place. Of course, it is possible that this lawyer merely mixed up two different cases. However, it is also possible that this lawyer lied to me to try and have me rush to file an answer that potentially omitted defenses my client had in that case.
All told, most lawyers are trustworthy practitioners, and it is important to be honest as a lawyer to build a good reputation in the legal industry. However, some lawyers lie to their adversaries so attorneys should verify information they receive from counterparts.
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothman.law.
The post Lawyers Frequently Lie To Their Adversaries appeared first on Above the Law.
As most people within and without the legal profession already know, lawyers need to follow ethical rules that govern the practice of law. This usually means that lawyers cannot lie to their adversaries, since the administration of justice typically requires that practitioners be truthful in their statements to one another. While misstatements about settlement authority and other trivial issues might be dismissed, lawyers often lie in egregious ways. Attorneys should trust what their adversaries say, but always verify statements that are made, since lawyers may make misstatements about the facts or law to advance a client’s position.
At the beginning of my career, I was tasked with handling an appeal for a matter that another lawyer handled before the trial court. My adversary agreed to discontinue the case in the trial court, which would mean that the appeal we filed was moot. However, since one of the parties was not represented by counsel and could not be reached, we had to get the court to approve the stipulation of discontinuance that was signed by all of the parties who had active counsel.
As the deadline for my adversary to file opposition papers to our appeal approached, the adversary tried to bully me into discontinuing the appeal prematurely. However, there was a chance the court would not agree to sign our stipulation of discontinuance, in which case we needed to have the appeal remain active. This adversary called me one day and told me that he received a letter from the appellate court informing him that my appeal would be considered frivolous, and potentially subject me to sanctions, if I did not discontinue the appeal soon.
I was worried about what my adversary told me. At that point, I was only practicing law for a few years, and I did not know how the legal system operated. However, I knew that being found guilty of frivolous conduct would be horrible, and I was worried there was some truth to my adversary’s assertion. However, the more I thought about the situation, the more skeptical I became. Why would the appellate court send a letter to just my adversary and not me, the parties that was supposedly advancing frivolous conduct? I asked my adversary to forward a copy of this letter, and although he said he would, no letter was ever forwarded. It was clear that my adversary made up this story to try to bully me to prematurely discontinue my appeal.
Another time, I was reviewing court records, and I saw that a new action had been filed against my client. I reached out to the lawyer that brought the action for an extension of time to answer, and he said that the papers had already been served and my time to respond had expired. I conveyed that even if the papers had been served the same day the case was filed (a rare occurrence) an answer would still be timely, and I asked to see the affidavit of service. My adversary said the affidavit of service with the earlier service was on file in his office, but that he did not have access to this document at the moment.
When I later reviewed the filed affidavit of service, I discovered the papers had not even been served by the time that communication had taken place. Of course, it is possible that this lawyer merely mixed up two different cases. However, it is also possible that this lawyer lied to me to try and have me rush to file an answer that potentially omitted defenses my client had in that case.
All told, most lawyers are trustworthy practitioners, and it is important to be honest as a lawyer to build a good reputation in the legal industry. However, some lawyers lie to their adversaries so attorneys should verify information they receive from counterparts.
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothman.law.
The post Lawyers Frequently Lie To Their Adversaries appeared first on Above the Law.
