Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Ohio

Re: Client issues with her lawyer

The short answer is "No", the attorney does not have to ask specific questions proposed by the client.

The attorney is trained in the law to know which questions are legally relevant and permitted. Often the client is not so trained. As a result, the client often wants the lawyer to ask questions that are not legally permitted. The lawyer is required to follow the law -- even if that means not asking questions that the client wanted to have asked.

Sometimes, the question that the client wants the lawyer to ask are legally permitted, but bad strategy. That is because the client is not trained in the law and does not understand how the question that they want the lawyer to ask will actually hurt the client, rather than help the client.

In a trial, a hearing, or a deposition, the lawyer does not have the time to explain in detail to the client why the questions the client wanted asked are either not legally permitted or poor strategy.

The client hired an attorney becuase the client is not trained in the law and needed the help of a professional. The client should certainly be willing to ask the lawyer what ever the client needs to ask in order to understand why certain questions were omitted. However, the client must understand that the dialog between the attorney and the client cannot occur in the heat of the questioning -- it must wait until a break.

The client hired a professional, and should trust that professional to do his or her job.