Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Virginia
Divorce Case
I'm representing a client who has been incredibly abusive to his wife. Through some legal trickery, we managed to get a PPO thrown out. If something happens , could I be personally held responsible?
This client is a real piece of work. I'm also concerned about my reputation as word gets around that I'm representing this guy. Deep down I know I may have really screwed up here by getting this PPO thrown out.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Divorce Case
"Legal trickery", you claim, may have been used to dismantle a civil protection order which had been in place against your client to protect his wife. As long as this does not signify that you were actively involved in perpetrating a fraud upon the court, I don't see how you, the lawyer, could be held personally or professionally liable for any untoward events which might ensue from the removal of the protective order. Of course, however, even assuming that the legal maneuvers which you undertook in behalf of your client were entirely within the bounds of the law, if such untoward events did occur as a result of the removal of the protective order(serious injury or worse to your client's wife), a certain measure of opprobrium might well attach to the court which granted the order----some of which might eventually settle upon you.