Michael Jacobs
08-11-2003, 11:26 AM
rustler@aol.com (Rustler) wrote in message
news:<p8r9jvclqu3tg0fd66juhcsffo2sv4e7c8@4ax.com>... If a person changes from one law firm to another, what is the process for transferring documents, such as a will? Are documents the property of the client?
Documents in a client's file belong to the client. If a lawyer moves
to a new firm, his (former) clients have the option of staying with
the firm he or she just left, or moving with the departing lawyer, or
moving to a new one altogether. There are ethical rules about when,
and how, a departing atty can solicit the firm's clients to depart
with him. And it makes a difference (from the lawyer's POV) whether
the departing lawyer was a partner (co-owner) in the firm, or just an
associate (employee) of the owners.
Should the client request a disk containing the material, or should the new attorney's office make a manual copy in order to have something to work with?
If the departing lawyer is taking the client with him, the old firm
usually just gives him the complete original client file. They may
or may not want to make a copy for their own archives as proof of what
was done on their watch, etc. as evidence against any possible
malpractice suit. If the client wants to stay with the old firm,
nothing changes from the client's POV except the person he will talk
to about his case at that firm will be different.
Clients who have a special relationship with the departing atty
usually decide to follow that atty to his or her new firm. Clients
whose relationship is primarily with the old firm, and whose case just
happened to be assigned by their "rainmaker" (the atty whose personal
contacts brought them to the firm in the first place) to another atty,
perhaps an associate working in a different sub-specialty than the
rainmaker, to do the actual work, are more likely to stay with the old
firm and get a new associate assigned to their case.
--
This posting is for discussion purposes, not professional advice.
Anything you post on this Newsgroup is public information.
I am not your lawyer, and you are not my client in any specific legal
matter.
For confidential professional advice, consult a lawyer in a private
communication.
Mike Jacobs
LAW OFFICE OF W. MICHAEL JACOBS
10440 Little Patuxent Pkwy #300
Columbia, MD 21044
(tel) 410-740-5685 (fax) 410-740-4300
news:<p8r9jvclqu3tg0fd66juhcsffo2sv4e7c8@4ax.com>... If a person changes from one law firm to another, what is the process for transferring documents, such as a will? Are documents the property of the client?
Documents in a client's file belong to the client. If a lawyer moves
to a new firm, his (former) clients have the option of staying with
the firm he or she just left, or moving with the departing lawyer, or
moving to a new one altogether. There are ethical rules about when,
and how, a departing atty can solicit the firm's clients to depart
with him. And it makes a difference (from the lawyer's POV) whether
the departing lawyer was a partner (co-owner) in the firm, or just an
associate (employee) of the owners.
Should the client request a disk containing the material, or should the new attorney's office make a manual copy in order to have something to work with?
If the departing lawyer is taking the client with him, the old firm
usually just gives him the complete original client file. They may
or may not want to make a copy for their own archives as proof of what
was done on their watch, etc. as evidence against any possible
malpractice suit. If the client wants to stay with the old firm,
nothing changes from the client's POV except the person he will talk
to about his case at that firm will be different.
Clients who have a special relationship with the departing atty
usually decide to follow that atty to his or her new firm. Clients
whose relationship is primarily with the old firm, and whose case just
happened to be assigned by their "rainmaker" (the atty whose personal
contacts brought them to the firm in the first place) to another atty,
perhaps an associate working in a different sub-specialty than the
rainmaker, to do the actual work, are more likely to stay with the old
firm and get a new associate assigned to their case.
--
This posting is for discussion purposes, not professional advice.
Anything you post on this Newsgroup is public information.
I am not your lawyer, and you are not my client in any specific legal
matter.
For confidential professional advice, consult a lawyer in a private
communication.
Mike Jacobs
LAW OFFICE OF W. MICHAEL JACOBS
10440 Little Patuxent Pkwy #300
Columbia, MD 21044
(tel) 410-740-5685 (fax) 410-740-4300
