FOR THE HERMENEUTICS OF ARTICLE 8, PART 15, SENTENCE 2 OF THE CODE OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS OF LAWYERS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52340/lm.2024.08.01.03Keywords:
Lawyer’s Fees, Client Funds, Admissible Remuneration, Reimbursement of Incurred Expenses, Entrusted PropertyAbstract
The paper focuses on the lawyer’s right protected by the Code of Professional Ethics for Lawyers of Georgia (second sentence of Section 15 of Article 8) – upon termination of defending the client’s interests, out of the funds to be returned to the client, to deduct the fee for services rendered and expenses incurred before terminating the client-lawyer relationship, as well as on the content and scope of this right, the opinions expressed by the Ethics Commission, the practice of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court of Georgia and the foreseeability of the norm are discussed. In interpreting the standard, the Ethics Commission takes liberties
and changes its content in such a way that it transforms the lawyer’s right into an obligation. The wording of the second sentence of Section 15 of Article 8 of the Professional Ethics Code of Lawyers is not exhaustive, the literal and objective definition does not allow for such a broad interpretation that the obligation to return the funds should be extended to the lawyer’s unearned fee and advance fee. As a result of a comparative study, it can be said that within the framework of the current edition – under “to return funds” it does not include the obligation to return the lawyer’s unearned fee and advance fee and it is necessary to formulate the article with a new wording.
References
ხუბულური თ., საქართველოს ადვოკატთა ასოციაციის ეთიკის კო მისიის ერთგვაროვანი პრაქტიკა 2018-2020 წ, თბილისი, 2020 [Khubuluri t. , sakartvelos advok’at’ta asotsiatsiis etik’is k’o misiis ertgvarovani p’rakt’ik’a 2018-2020 ts’, tbilisi, 2020]
Brickman L., The Advance Fee Payment Dilemma: Should Payments be Deposited to the Client Trust Account or to the General Office Account, Cardozo Law Review, Vol. 10, No. 4, 1989
Cameron D. C., Attorney Fees Five Keys to Ethical Compliance, GPSolo, Vol. 27, No. 7, 2010
DiPippa J. M. A., Lawyers, Clients, and Money, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1, 1995
Lester B., Cunningham L. A., Nonrefundable Retainers: Impermissible under Fiduciary, Statutory and Contract Law, Fordham Law Review, Vol. 57, No. 2, 1988
Long A. B., Attorney-Client Fee Agreements That Offend Public Policy, South Carolina Law Review, Vol. 61, No. 2, 2009
Ricci I. M., Client Trust Funds: How to Avoid Ethical Problems, Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1998
Rogers J., A Client’s Right to Refund of an Advance Payment, Journal of the Legal Profession, Vol.11, No. 2, 1986
Soule G. D., Attorney Misappropriation of Clients’ Funds: A Study in Professional Responsibility, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, Vol. 10, No. 3, 1978
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Tamar Khubuluri
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
.