Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

Re: Retained lawyer - conflict?

This is a great question. The heart and soul of lawyering is about finding someone who is an expert in the law to represent your interest - the thing you have a stake - and trusting that someone to do the best job they can do. As a client that is the big step. Lawyers, on the other hand, put their entire stock and trade in building trust with their clients. Some lawyers advertise and try to attract clients that way. However, most of us, simply & absolutely rely on word of mouth. Every new client that walks in the door is a starting over point for every lawyer. One of the toughest parts of lawyering is knowing that you only build trust with clients after they have been with you for some time. But, the new client - that is the client to whom we have to prove we are trustworthy. Afterall, if the lawyer is not trustworthy to her client what does she have left over - what is there after the one case is completed? A lawyer who is not trustworthy is a lawyer with a bad reputation. Lawyers with bad reputations don't make a living at lawyering.

We have a set of ethical rules we have developed over the many hundreds of years we have had lawyers. Our most sacred rule is representing our clients to our utmost ability. We take our clients secrets to our graves. In recent years someone sued a lawyer saying that the lawyer could reveal client secrets because the client was deceased. The lawyer refused because the lawyer said that the only person who could release him from his bond was the client. Since the client was not available to make the release the lawyer did not have the ability to break the bond. The US Supreme Court agreed with the lawyer.

My point with the story telling is that if you do not trust the lawyer you hired then ask for your money back and find someone you feel comfortable with. But, the point of trust will have to come from you because your lawyer will have already given you her word. She has nothing more to give and she will not sell you out just to please a former partner. You are welcomed to bring this note to her and ask if she believes these things are true. If she does not answer to your satisfaction then go find someone you feel more comfortable with. Trust in this relationship you have entered is a two way street.

Good luck.