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Florida Ethics Opinions Summary courtesy of FreelanceLaw member Carol Mutz, J.D., Lincoln, Nebraska
Professional Ethics of the Florida Bar Opinion 07-2, January 18, 2008
A lawyer may use the services of an overseas provider of paralegal assistance as long as the lawyer adequately addresses ethical obligations relating to assisting the unlicensed practice of law, supervision of nonlawyers, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, and billing.
An attorney who hires nonlawyers must directly supervise them and make reasonable efforts to ensure that their conduct complies with the ethics rules, regardless of whether the overseas provider is an attorney or a lay paralegal. The supervising lawyer is required to ensure that (1) they clearly identify the paralegal as a nonlawyer to prospective clients; (2) the paralegals are used only to obtain factual information from prospective clients, and (3) the paralegals give no legal advice concerning the case or the representation agreement.
Attorneys employing overseas legal outsourcing companies should recognize the difficulty of adequate supervision and the need to ensure that foreign employees are familiar with the state’s ethics rules governing conflicts of interest and confidentiality. The hiring attorney could be held responsible for any conflict of interest resulting from relationships that develop during the attorney's relationship with the temporary legal employee.
Confidentiality poses a special concern and therefore the temporary employee should be allowed access only to the information necessary to complete the work for the particular client. Lawyers should also be aware of obligations regarding disclosure of sensitive information of opposing parties and third parties, particularly medical records or financial information. In addition, the law firm should obtain prior client consent to disclosure of information which is necessary to serve the client’s interests. The firm’s use of temporary lawyers may need to be disclosed if the client would likely consider the information to be material.
The hiring law firm may charge the actual cost of the overseas provider to the client, unless the charge would normally be covered as overhead. However, it is improper in a contingent fee case to charge for work by a temporary legal employee that would normally be accomplished by a client’s own attorney and incorporated into the standard fee paid to the attorney.
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