Also known as: reasonable diligence · promptness in representation · duty of diligence · Model Rule 1.3
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A professional duty requiring a lawyer to pursue a client's matter with reasonable effort and without unnecessary delay. The duty includes organizing practice systems to track deadlines and taking timely steps to protect client rights even when negotiation or other strategies are pursued in parallel.
HopeBridge hired Carla to challenge a tax agency's denial of exempt status. The agency sent repeated written requests with clear deadlines. Carla allowed multiple deadlines to pass without response or extension requests, causing the agency to close the file and forcing HopeBridge to reapply from the start.
Plains Labs received internal emails and code from a former Pacific Logic engineer six months after judgment. The materials showed concealed prior art that would have altered the infringement outcome. Plains Labs could not have located the evidence earlier despite its discovery efforts during litigation.
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An offeree completed the invited performance under an offer that required notification of acceptance. Within a reasonable time the offeree notified the offeror that it did not intend to accept. The rendering of performance therefore did not bind the offeree to a contract.
An offeree rendered the performance invited by an offer that did not request notification. The offeree knew the offeror had no adequate means of learning of the performance. The offeree promptly notified the offeror of acceptance, preserving the offeror's duty under the resulting contract.
An offeree seasonably dispatched an acceptance using an uninvited means of transmission. The offeree failed to take ordinary precautions to ensure safe delivery. The acceptance arrived within the time a properly dispatched acceptance would normally have arrived, making it operative upon dispatch.
A lawyer must pursue client matters with reasonable effort and without unnecessary delay. This includes maintaining systems to track deadlines, responding to agency or court requests, and taking timely steps to preserve client rights such as filing liens or responding to pleadings. Inaction that allows deadlines to pass without extension requests or communication violates the duty even when the lawyer later acts quickly.
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No. Negotiation is a legitimate strategy but cannot come at the cost of forfeiting time-limited remedies when no countervailing constraint exists. A lawyer must either perfect the lien or other right while talks continue or obtain informed client instructions after explaining the risk of loss. Allowing a known deadline to expire without action falls below the required standard.
Supporting sources
No. Busy periods do not excuse the duty to maintain basic office systems that track pleadings and deadlines. Misplacing a complaint and failing to calendar the answer date until after a default motion arrives reflects inadequate diligence regardless of seasonal workload. Prompt action after discovery does not cure the original failure to handle the matter timely.
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