Also known as: professional relationships · professional relations
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A legally recognized association between a lawyer and another person that triggers specific professional conduct rules. Such a relationship may permit otherwise restricted solicitation when it is prior and close. It also informs fee reasonableness determinations based on its nature and length.
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Perry Pratt had represented Pearl Porter on two prior real estate deals. Pratt now contacts Porter in person to offer services on a new transaction. Because the contact rests on their prior professional relationship, the solicitation complies with the exception to the live-contact ban.
Paige Porter sends a letter offering estate planning services only to clients she represented in the past five years. Recipients recognize the sender from prior matters. The mailing qualifies for the exception because each addressee shares a prior professional relationship with the lawyer.
Patricia Patel's lawyer asserts her constitutional rights in a challenge to a statute restricting legal advice. The attorney-client relationship is sufficiently close to confer third-party standing on counsel. Courts recognize the professional relationship formed during representation.
Phoebe Park, defense counsel, objects when the prosecutor strikes jurors who share her professional background. The attorney-client bond formed during voir dire is treated as close enough to support the lawyer's assertion of the jurors' equal-protection rights.
Pierre Poulin seeks to bar opposing counsel's testimony about observations made during a court-ordered deposition. Because no representation relationship ever formed, the court holds that the statutory professional-relationship privilege does not apply.
Precision Tools prevails in civil-rights litigation after a three-year representation by its counsel. The court adjusts the lodestar upward because the extended professional relationship required sustained effort and familiarity with the client's complex operations.
A lawyer may make live, person-to-person contact when the prospective client already shares a family, close personal, or prior business or professional relationship with the lawyer or firm. The exception removes the pecuniary-gain prohibition that otherwise bars such solicitation.
Supporting sources
Rule 1.5(a)(6) lists the nature and length of the professional relationship as one factor in determining whether a fee is reasonable. Longer relationships may justify higher fees when they reflect sustained effort or specialized knowledge gained over time.
Supporting sources
…U. S. 926. We think that appellants have standing to raise the constitutional rights of the married people with whom they had a professional relationship. Tileston v. Ullman , 318 U. S. 44, is different, for there the plaintiff seeking to represent others asked for a declaratory judgment. In that situation we thought that the requirements…