Professional Responsibility essay questions -- S97
Open book, rules and notes -- no commercial outlines, hornbooks, etc.

1) (20 points) Attorney Anderson has represented Bob for a number of years. A wrote B's will, ran the title to his house, handled his divorce, and has handled the legal work for B's small unincorporated business -- a flower shop. Five years ago, A handled a divorce for Claudia, B's sister; that case involved a two year custody and support fight with C's ex-husband. A has not represented C in any matters since the divorce and custody battle, and does not know whether C has had legal work done by other lawyers. The court record of C's divorce is not "closed" since the children of C and her husband are still minors. A would be the "attorney of record" in the event of litigation over custody, visitation~ or support.

A is a social friend of B, seeing B and his family about once a month. A has not seen C socially in over a year.

B called A with a request that A write a will for Fred, the 88 year old father of B and C. B explained that F was dying of a terminal cancer and did not have a will. A and B visited F in the hospital. F was bedridden and weak but seemed rational. He knew B and was oriented as to time and place. B explained that F wanted to leave the family farm to B and the house in town to C. F agreed. A asked about other assets and B said there were none except for a small insurance policy which would cover funeral expenses. B said F was a widower and B and C were his only children.

A asked B to step outside for a moment. A questioned F about his wishes and his assets. F said he wanted to leave the farm to B because B loved it and wouldn't sell it, and he wanted to leave the house to C so she would have a place to raise her children. F confirmed what B had said about his other assets, and lack of other children. A said he would draft a will and come back.
 
As A and B were leaving the hospital A asked B what the farm was worth. B said he guessed about $500,000 as "development property." A asked what he meant and B replied, "Well, the town's moving that way and it's going to be developed. Dad loves that farm but you can't stand in the way of progress. We're going to want you to handle everything when it's developed. C's going to be all right. That's a nice house -- worth probably $75,000. You know -- we consider you to be our lawyer we want you to write the will and handle the estate when Dad dies."

A would like to write F's will. A would like to handle F's estate, which should produce a sizeable fee. A does not want to lose B as a client. A has asked you for advice. How would you advise A?
 
2) (20 points) State v. X and Y for possessing stolen property, to wit a mining drill which at one time was used at X's mine. Later Y sold the drill to Z, an innocent purchaser. Y is a fugitive and the state proceeds against X. The state's case is based on witnesses who would testify they saw X using the drill at his mine.

X retained A to represent him on the criminal charge. X told A that he and Y had been partners in the mining operation and Y had brought the drill to the mine and later sold it; that he (X) did not know it was stolen and had nothing to do with its sale to Z. X said Y disappeared and X thought at the time he had taken the drill with him. Only later did he learn that Y sold the drill to Z.

A spoke with Z by phone and Z confirmed that Y had sold him the drill, that he had made out a check for $8000 to Y, which had been cashed, and that he had had no contact with X. A subpoenaed Z and the canceled check to court on the first day of X's trial. z delivered the check to A's secretary on the morning of trial and went down the street to get a cup of coffee. Z told the secretary to "have A look at the endorsements."
 
The secretary gave the check to A. A noted that it was made out to Y in the amount of $8000. When he turned it over, A saw that it was endorsed by both X and Y. A immediately confronted X, who then said he remembered helping Y cash the check at X's bank because Y had no bank account. X denied knowing at the time what the check was for or getting any money from the sale of the drill.

A has placed a hurried call to you as a member of the Ethics Hot Line. A wants to know what to do with the check, whether he can ask the subpoenaed witness, Z, to "go home," and whether he can, or should, call X as a witness in his own behalf. X would like to testify and the jury will expect him to testify.

3) (5 points) A graduated from law school one year ago and worked as a law clerk for a judge. She has just married a small town veterinarian and intends to set up her single shingle law practice in her husband's small town. She would like to build a general law practice but wants to avoid improper solicitation. She wants you to tell her what is permissible and impermissible solicitation, with specific "dos and don'ts."