Monday * “Is an attorney available? I need an uncontested divorce”, the woman says. Before the receptionist can answer, Carl announces, “I can see you! Come on in!”

Rule: 1.8 Consideration: EC-1.8(a). The woman requested a lawyer and Carl answered come in I can see you as if he was an attorney. A Paralegal shall not engage in the unauthorized practice of law. * “My name is Carl Jackson”

Rule: 1.7A Consideration: EC-1.7(a). Mr. Jackson introduced himself and didn’t state who he was or his job title at the initial consultation with Mrs. Smith who requested an attorney. * “I have a little business on the side, but the government doesn’t know about it. It’s all cash and I don’t pay any taxes on it, so I keep getting my disability check”

Rule: 1.3 Consideration: EC-1.3(e). Mrs. Smith did confess about making an additional of income that she claims that isn’t on records. That’s fraud and Mr. Jackson should have informed her about her illegal activities. * “Have you asked your husband for alimony? You might be entitled to it, you know” Carl says. “I would if I were you” Carl says.

Rule: 1.8 Consideration: EC-1.8(a). Mr. Jackson should only be asking questions that he was assigned by his attorney and as a Paralegal ha cannot give recommendations only a lawyer can.

* Carl gets up and lets Zeke sit behind attorney Howe’s desk. Zeke has to push some of the open files on the desk out of the way to make room for Howe’s legal pad, which Zeke uses to make notes during his phone conversation. Rule: 1.3 Consideration: EC-1.3(e). Mr. Jackson was using attorney Howe’s office where there were several correspondences and documents that should have been kept confidential. In allowing Zeke to use the attorney’s desk for his personal use confidential documents were exposed. * Carl says, “Well that’s our regular price, but I’ll tell you what. We’ll do it for the price that was quoted to you by the other lawyer.”

Rule: 1.2 Consideration: EC-1.2(d). Mr. Howe, the attorney had given Mr. Jackson set fees for services provided and Mr. Jackson shouldn’t have reduced the price because it wasn’t in his power to do so. * “Don’t forget about that alimony’, says Carl loudly as they walk past the receptionist. “Your husband should be paying you plenty.” Rule: 1.5 Consideration: EC-1.5(f). Mr. Jackson wasn’t acting like a professional and information like that should have been spoken behind closed doors in confidence with his client.

Tuesday * “Well, the lower your income, the more maintenance you’re entitled to, so I guess we won’t worry about that little business income”, says Carl.

Rule: 1.3 Consideration; EC-1.3(e). Mr. Jackson should have maintained his professional conduct and informed Mrs. Smith that what she is requesting is illegal, fraudulent and that he cannot assist because it is a direct violation of the Model Code. * “Yes, this is attorney Howe’s office. No, he’s not here, but I can take a message. Yes. You’ve been charged with possession of marijuana? And you had how much on you? Two ounces? What’s your Phone Number? And your address? Your name? Let me repeat that back to you” “Okay, Thank you, Mr. Brown” * Rule: 1.5 Consideration: EC-1.5 (f). Mr. Jackson should have acted discreetly concerning Mr. Brown’s conversation with regards to his matter and he shouldn’t have spoken about the matter in the presence of Mrs. Smith. Mr. Jackson also repeated confidential information in Mrs. Smith presence. * “Why don’t we ask for my double monthly expenses? Then I’ll be more likely to get a lot, even if I don’t get what I ask for”
Rule: 1.3 Consideration: EC-1.3 (e). Mr. Jackson should refrain from false declaration and fraudulent requested by Mrs. Smith. He should also inform her that what she’s requesting cannot be done by him. * “He was at a convention for his company when some of the boys phoned up an escort service for, you know, “company”. My husband wasn’t a part of it, and the charges against him were eventually dismissed because he was innocent. But he was terribly embarrassed. If anybody at church found out, he would lose his position as a deacon.” * Rule: 1.3 Consideration: EC-1.3(a). Mr. Jackson should not have made a question about the issue mentioned above because it has no bearings on the upcoming matter, Mr. Smith case was discussed and the matter should be kept confidential because he was found innocent and he could lose his position as a deacon in the church if information comes out to the public. * “Carl, who is a notary, will notarize her signature”
Rule: 1.6 Consideration: EC-1.6 (c). Mr. Jackson should avoid notarizing the document because their maybe a conflict of interest. * “Carl looks at the clock and sees his meeting with Jane took 1 hour and 20 minutes. He writes on his time sheet, “2 hours”

Rule 1.2 Consideration EC-1.2(d). Mr. Jackson is submitting a fraudulent time sheet because he is billing for more time than he really worked.

Wednesday

* Carl prepares Jane’s motion for alimony. Carl has never prepared a motion before, so he isn’t sure what’s required. He fails to include certification of service that’s required by procedural rules. He takes it to Attorney Howe for review, but Howe is rushing out the door.

Rule 1.1 Consideration EC-1.1 (c). Mr. Jackson should have asked Mr. Howe for help with the motion because he has never done one before. Being that he has never completed one before he does not know the requirements for the motion and he’s new to the Paralegal field. * “Well, Zeke, you may have to sue her. And she’s involved in a divorce and her husband’s going to be claiming that TV. She’s already told me that she’s not going to give it back to you. She really didn’t have the legal right to give it to you in the first place.”

Rule: 1.5 Consideration EC-1.5 (c). Mr. Jackson is breaking client confidentially. He told Zeke what was Mrs. Smith intentions when she told him that in confidence. * “Well, can you help me? Tell her I won’t sue her to reimburse me for all the bills I paid if she’ll let me have the TV.” “Sure, Zeke, I’ll tell her that sounds like a fair deal.”

Rule: 1.3 Consideration: EC-1.3 (a). Mr. Jackson is acting totally out of bound here, he’s making decisions only an attorney can, and he’s disclosing information between clients without the attorney knowing about it. * “My husband was just run over!” a weeping woman cries. “I’m so sorry” says Carl.
ABA Model Code 7.3. Mr. Jackson was soliciting an individual at the side of the road where an accident just took place. The woman didn’t seek legal advice. * “No” says Carl, “But I know a good one here” he says, handing her one of Attorney Howe’s cards. “This guy always wins a big settlement”

ABA Rule 7.1. Mr. Jackson did recommend Mr. Howe to the woman by giving her one of Mr. Howe’s business cards but he mentioned to her that Mr. Howe wins big settlements which was a misleading statement. * “You weren’t here, so I told her to go ahead and sign.” Okay says Carl. He recognizes Jane’s signature on the document and notarizes it.

Rule: 1.7A Consideration EC- 1.7(e). Mr. Jackson is creating a false declaration because Mrs. Smith didn’t sign the document in the presence of him and also he didn’t administer the oath to her which is normally read before signing to make sure they understand the documents they are creating.

Thursday * Jane phone Carl, "Did Zeke phone you?" she asks, "oh yeah" says Carl and describes the conversation, including Zeke's offer. Rule 1.5 Consideration EC-1.5(F) Mr. Jackson shouldn’t have discussed what was said to him by Zeke to Mrs. Smith because Zeke spoke to him in confidence and should have informed Mrs. Smith that he cannot discuss the matter with her. * "No way" says Jane, "he can’t prove I gave it to him, I never told anyone, so it’s his word against mines." "Sounds good to me," says Carl. If he calls back, I will have Mr. Howe tell him to take a hike. Rule 1.3 Consideration EC-1.3(e) Mr. Jackson should inform Mrs. Smith that what she's planning is fraudulent and illegal. He should desist from any actions or creating of any documents for her because he will be in direct violation of the Model Code. * If you didn’t see the accident, says Carl we may not be able to win the case. Somebody needs to be able to say that they saw the accident and that your husband didn’t step out in front of the car. It’s better if the car got him while he was on the sidewalk. Well says Sally, maybe we did. You know we were looking at the decorations but we might have looked around to say goodbye. We might have seen him then, "good" Carl says writing this down. "Now is it ‘might have’, or can you be more certain- did you see the accident? “Yes" says Sally, while looking at her sister. I think we did see it, I mean, what else could have happened. Rule 1.3 Consideration EC-1.3( e) Mr. Jackson is prompting Mrs. Brown into making a false statement because he stated without a witness to the accident the case would be hard to win, so from not seeing the anything, she states "I might have saw" and she ended up stating "she saw the accident." Mr. Jackson is knowingly assisting Mrs. Brown in the creation of a fraudulent document. * This is something Carl has discussed with Howe, but Carl knows that personal injury attorneys generally charge a percentage of the recovery. It’s customary to charge one-third of the recovery.
Rule 1.8 Consideration EC-1.8(a) Mr. Jackson is a Paralegal and not an attorney. He should not be setting fees for services rendered; the lawyer is the one to set fees for services.

Friday

* Carl introduces himself to Raymond, Jane follows the two men into Attorney Howe's office, "do you mind if I sit in?" Jane asks, Raymond say its ok. Carl asks Raymond about the size of his estate and what sort of agreement he wants to make. Rule 1.6 Consideration EC-1.6(a) Mr. Jackson should advise him that he doesn’t know fully about antenuptial contracts and should have sought guidance from his attorney Mr. Howe. Also the needs of the client comes first and he shouldn’t allow Mrs. Smith to interrupt the clients requests with that of hers. He wanted to include his children from his first marriage so the antenuptial contract should have been drafted to reflect the wishes of Mr. Raymond.

* "Sounds ok to me" says Carl. Carl doesn’t know much about antenuptial contracts or whether other documents could be drafted which would make sure that Raymond's children ended up with his estate. Rule 1.1 Consideration EC-1.1(c) Mr. Jackson should have requested help from Mr. Howe for the drafting of the antenuptial contract because it’s very important to have the wishes of the client done properly.

* "What is our balance in our account?" Attorney Howe asks the secretary, she tells him, "Hmmm" say Mr. Howe. "Carl we're a little short this week, I'll have to write you a check out of the Client Trust Account." I can replace it next week when I get that big settlement check, "just don’t mention it to anyone." Attorney Howe writes the check and hands it to Carl. Rule 1.2 Consideration EC-1.2(f) Mr. Howe committed a crime by writing a check from the Clients Trust Account, it’s also an ethics violation and this is a serious offence. Clients Trust Funds are only to be used to handle the clients business and not those of the attorneys.

Summary

“Carl looks at the clock and sees his meeting with Jane took one hour & twenty minutes, he writes on his time sheet “two hours.”

As a Paralegal, you have many tasks to complete that requires the individual to maintain a high level of personal and professional integrity, honesty and decorum about one’s self. It was an ethical issue when Carl wrote more time on his timesheet than he did take with Mrs. Smith. He knowingly inflated the amount of time that he billed to the Law Firm. I would have billed the correct time because it shows a level of maturity, professionalism, integrity and building trust with your employers, which will show that you can be trusted but also build a name for yourself as a Paralegal of Integrity and honor.