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Does an attorney have an ethical obligation to answer any member of the public when contacted, or can the enquiry be ignored?
Sebeka, MN
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Posted 5 months ago in Ethics / Professional Responsibility
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Assuming the attorney has accepted some type of public remuneration for legal work done on a project in which both public and private funding is involved; does he incur a higher level of ethical responsibility in dealing with questions from the public related to said project versus having only private financing involved? Can the public be "stonewalled" by publicly funded attorneys? My state lawyer discipline board has declined to investigate my complaint related to this subject; lawyer ignored my request for information, forcing me to re-mail original request by cert. mail, after 2 months of waiting. No explanation from attorney as to why the delay. Can he be sued in small claims court for my time and re-mailing expense?
Answers (2)
Sarah M. Cross
This attorney is licensed in Michigan.
Posted 5 months ago.
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The lawyer owes a duty of professional responsibility to the agency that hired him. For instance, if he is working for the city, his client is the city. Even though public funds are compensating him he does not have a duty to answer your questions. If you want information you might be more successful sending a FOIA request to the agency the attorney represents.
Jonathan H Levy
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