How Do Transfer Lawyers Ensure Compliance
How do transfer lawyers ensure compliance with legal and regulatory require when a lawyer leaves his or her firm to join a new one?
The departure of a lawyer is an important event for any law firm. Not only does it mean the end of an important professional relationship between lawyer and client, but it also involves a number of significant ethical issues.
First, the departing lawyer must ensure that he or she complies with the Rules of Professional Conduct by properly informing all clients affected by the departure. This includes notice of the firm’s intent to rely on the client’s consent to transfer their file and any other requirements. It is particularly important to make sure that each affected client receives a joint notice from the firm and the departing lawyer, which must comply with Rule 1.15(b) of the RPC.
Second, the departing lawyer must ensure that a thorough conflicts check has been conducted by the firm before any transfer of a client’s file is made. This must involve a review of the entire client file, not just the client’s matters at the firm, and it must include the identity of all other lawyers, firms or corporations represented by the departing lawyer, both inside and outside the firm.
How Do Transfer Lawyers Ensure Compliance With Legal and Regulatory Require When a Lawyer Leaves His Or Her Firm to Join a New One?
Third, the departing lawyer must ensure that if a client’s file is transferred to a different firm, the firm’s records are not destroyed or otherwise compromised without the consent of the client. This should be done by preparing and maintaining a written checklist of all documents that must be returned to the firm.
Fourth, the departing lawyer must ensure that pleadings, research and CLE materials, and other documents prepared by the firm are not destroyed or otherwise lost during the transfer process. This can be a very sensitive issue because some of these items may have been created by the departing lawyer and/or are considered to be in the public domain.
Fifth, the departing lawyer must ensure that despite the fact that the firm’s records have been destroyed, any client files remain secure from destruction by a new employer. This is because the Rules of Professional Conduct prohibit a lawyer from disclosing information relating to the representation of a client without the client’s consent or an agreement to maintain client confidences.
Sixth, the departing lawyer must ensure that unless he or she has agreed to take on any additional responsibility for clients he or she will not re-enter the practice of law after the transfer. This requires the lawyer to ensure that he or she is in the practice of law with his or her new firm and has not already become an associate or partner at another firm.
Seventh, the departing lawyer must ensure that any client files he or she intends to retain for a period after the transfer are not destroyed and are not damaged by the new firm. This can be accomplished by ensuring that these files are stored in an accessible location, that any client’s name and contact details are maintained, and that the file is password protected so that it cannot be read without the client’s authorization.