Bad_Monkey25 Posted November 27, 2017 Posted November 27, 2017 Posting for a friend: At the first divorce trial, her lawyer entered a stipulation of withdrawal of counsel based on an ethical issue. What exactly could this mean for the divorce? Is she changing her mind about the divorce? If she was, what exactly would happen? Or is it something else entirely? Thanks for your responses!
GorillaTheater Posted November 27, 2017 Posted November 27, 2017 My first thought is some kind of conflict between the lawyer and the client (who is your friend, right?) Doesn't she know why her attorney withdrew?
somanymistakes Posted November 27, 2017 Posted November 27, 2017 An ethical issue means there's a problem with the attorney, nothing to do with her changing her mind about the divorce. The most obvious possibilities would be: - the attorney realised that he/she had some kind of business/financial connection to your friend, thus could not ethically take part in a divorce which would affect your friend's business/financial holdings - the attorney came into contact with privileged information about your friend and could no longer fairly represent his/her client because of knowing something they weren't supposed to know - the attorney realised they were actually old friends/acquaintances with your friend and therefore could not impartially be involved in the case - the attorney slept with their client But i'm sure there are other options
Be_Strong Posted November 28, 2017 Posted November 28, 2017 If what you said is literally true—that her attorney withdrew at the trial—that would be extremely rare and usually not allowed by the judge. As pointed out by somanymistakes, there are a variety of reasons that a lawyer may develop a conflict of interest with their own client and are required to withdraw, but those conflicts are usually discovered long before the start of trial. If an attorney is withdrawing at trial, it’s usually one of two possible reasons. First, a lawyer is not allowed to call a witness to testify at trial that the lawyer knows will lie on the stand. So, if a client tells her attorney to ask her questions on the stand about her husband abusing her kids, and the lawyer knows she will lie about her husband abusing her kids, the lawyer is ethically prohibited from calling the client as a witness. That puts the lawyer in a situation where he cannot effectively act as her lawyer, so he needs to withdraw. The other reason is where there is a strong difference in opinion between the lawyer and the client. The client may vehemently demand that the lawyer take a certain action at trial that the lawyer is strongly against. Again, it sets up a situation where the attorney can no longer effectively represent the client.
PegNosePete Posted November 28, 2017 Posted November 28, 2017 It really doesn't make sense to ask a friend to ask a bunch of strangers on the internet what might or might not have caused the vague details that you've given. You didn't even tell us which country you're in. Your friend should ASK HER LAWYER what is going on. Speculating and guessing is really not going to be productive here. 1
Author Bad_Monkey25 Posted November 28, 2017 Author Posted November 28, 2017 The question was actually for him and not her. Thanks for the responses.
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