Texas lawyers preserve their right to scru their clients

[Okla-homey]

would you expect anything else from texass?

Texas Lawyers Reject Ban on Sex with Clients

Posted Feb 22, 2011 11:36 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Members of the State Bar of Texas have rejected a proposed change in the ethics rules that would have barred sex with clients.

The rule would have banned sex between lawyer and client unless they were married, or engaged in a consensual relationship that began before the representation, according to a summary posted at the state bar website. The rule was rejected by 72 percent of the lawyers voting, according to the posted results.

The sex-with-clients ban was one of several proposed amendments to the Texas disciplinary rules that were presented to the state’s lawyers in the form of six ballot questions, Texas Lawyer reports. All were rejected, some by 80 percent of the vote. The Careerist noted the failed sex-with-clients ban.

Writing at his blog Defending People, criminal defense lawyer Mark Bennett says he sees no problem with the sex-with-clients ban or the two other amendments that were grouped with it. But he argues that the state law governing the ethics referendum required each amendment to be presented separately rather than in the form of “six inexplicable agglomerations of proposed rules.” Other opponents argued that Texas should wait until the ABA’s Commission on Ethics 20/20 completes its review of the model ethics rules.

What’s next? Lillian Hardwick, an Austin solo who chaired a state bar rules committee, told Texas Lawyer she hopes the state supreme court will adopt rule changes despite the lawyer vote. "The court can promulgate the rules on its own,” she said.

Hardwick elaborated in an interview with the ABA Journal. She said the Texas Supreme Court has both the inherent authority and the obligation to regulate law practice in the state. Asked why lawyers rejected the sex-with-clients ban, she said it was likely more of a protest vote over the amendment process.

"I think people got a certain amount of satisfaction from pulling the lever," she said.

Updated on Feb. 24 to clarify that the proposed sex-with-clients ban was grouped with two other proposals and to add information from Hardwick and Bennett.

[Mongo]

Is there any kind of ban like that in Oklahoma? I still owe my attorney some change.

[Okla-homey]

Is there any kind of ban like that in Oklahoma? I still owe my attorney some change.

Okie lawyers aren't allowed to scru their clients, UNLESS, the seckshaul relationship predated the attorney-client relationship.

I think its a good rule.

[cccasooner2]

Is there any kind of ban like that in Oklahoma? I still owe my attorney some change.

I hope you're a guy and your attorney is a girl.

[StoopTroup]

I bet it was those horny Texas Wimmen Lawyers that swayed the vote.

[Mongo]

I hope you're a guy and your attorney is a girl.

No. that is how bad I want to pay this fool off

[Whet]

"a person who represents himself in court, as a fool for an attorney."

[AlbqSooner]

Okie lawyers aren't allowed to scru their clients, UNLESS, the seckshaul relationship predated the attorney-client relationship.

I think its a good rule.

You can also doink your client after termination of the attorney/client relationship.

When that case came down in the early 80s, my employer/mentor said that it announced the rule of law that it is unethical for an attorney to screw his client other than in the pocketbook.

[soonercruiser]

You can also doink your client after termination of the attorney/client relationship.

When that case came down in the early 80s, my employer/mentor said that it announced the rule of law that it is unethical for an attorney to screw his client other than in the pocketbook.

We all "get it", literally!