Also known as: law offices · law firm · attorneys' office
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A physical location or organizational entity in which licensed attorneys practice law and deliver legal services to clients.
Landon Long, a partner at a law office, filed a pleading containing factual denials unsupported by any evidence. After notice and an opportunity to respond, the court determined the filing violated Rule 11(b). The court imposed sanctions on the law office jointly with Long because no exceptional circumstances existed to relieve the firm of responsibility for its partner's conduct.
Laura Lewis, owner of a law office, proposed paying a nonlawyer investigator a percentage of contingency fees recovered in cases the investigator helped prepare. The arrangement was rejected because lawyers and law offices may not share legal fees with nonlawyers outside the narrow statutory exceptions.
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Lars Lindstrom's law office represented Client A in a contract dispute while another office of the same firm simultaneously sued Client A in an unrelated tort action. The direct adversity created a per se conflict that presumptively disqualified the entire firm absent informed consent from all affected clients.
Luis Lopez's law office adopted a retirement plan that awarded nonlawyer paralegals a share of firm profits based on years of service. The plan complied with professional conduct rules permitting law offices to include nonlawyer employees in compensation arrangements tied to overall profitability.
Lila Lin's former client sued her law office for alleged overbilling. The office obtained and used the client's prior discovery responses and instructions to defend the fee dispute. The self-defense exception allowed the law office to rely on otherwise privileged communications because the client placed the representation at issue.
Leo Lynch's law office made a substantial contribution to a judicial candidate's campaign with the purpose of being considered for government legal engagements. The contribution violated rules prohibiting lawyers or law offices from using political donations to obtain or be considered for judicial appointments or government work.
A court may sanction a law office when it determines after notice that a filing violated Rule 11(b). Absent exceptional circumstances the office is held jointly responsible for violations by its partners or associates.
A law office may not share legal fees with nonlawyers except in limited situations such as payments to a deceased lawyer's estate or inclusion of nonlawyers in a retirement plan based on profit sharing.
Yes. A law firm may not represent one client in one matter while opposing that same client in another matter even if the matters are unrelated and handled by separate offices. The conflict is per se and presumptively improper.
A law office may obtain and use client communications and work product when necessary to defend against the client's allegations of overbilling or malpractice because the client has placed the representation at issue.
…law school must seek to belong) excludes from membership any school that refuses to ban from its job-interview facilities a law firm (no matter how small) that does not wish to hire as a prospective partner a person who openly engages in homosexual conduct. See Romer, supra , at 653. One of the most revealing…