In the hit book, The Pelican Brief, John Grisham's depiction of lawyers who will do anything for money and their clients presents an interesting ethical dilemma. In the book, two Supreme Court justices are killed by a hired assassin, Khamel. FBI, CIA, and the press are working hard to find who the killer is. The only people who know the truth are attorneys from White and Blazevich, Nathaniel Jones (also known as Einstein), Jarreld Schwabe, Marty Velmano, and F. Sims Wakefield and their client, Victor Mattiece. The action commences when Darby Shaw writes a brief about who she thinks is responsible for the deaths of two Supreme Court Justices, Rosenberg and Jensen. She shows the document to Thomas Callahan, her professor and lover. He …show more content…
Collecting the fee up front is certainly consistent with the practices of many practical and ethical lawyers. Unless there is a written fee agreement, and there is certainly no evidence to support the existence of one in the book, funds paid by a client at the beginning of the representation are presumed to be an advance fee payment. Advance fees, of course, must be deposited into a trust account, and withdrawn only when earned. Retainers aren’t usually “…ten percent of the net profits from the wells,” and real lawyers must know the requirement (Grisham 339). One of the solutions to this ethical dilemma could be to sign a retainer. If White and Blazevich attorneys want money, why wait? Let Mattiece sign a retainer, pay them, and wait for Court’s decision. Nathaniel Jones (also known as Einstein), Jarreld Schwabe, Marty Velmano, and F. Sims Wakefield are all relying on being paid for their services after the decision on the case. They could save a lot of money and avoid jail if they would follow standard Model Rules. Just because F. Sims Wakefield “…was very close to Victor Mattiece and often visited him in the Bahamas,” it is not an exception to conflict-of-interest situations. Even if Victor Mattiece is a friend of F. Sims Wakefield, he should pay for services rendered, or the attorney could
Organizations that behave ethically are more apt to earn the trust of their customers, employees, and stockholders. Then there are companies that hide the true value of the company from possible investors, customers, employees, and the public at large showing a lack of ethically behavior. This does not all the time included just one company, but a group effort to hide, steal, and mislead everyone for personnel gains. Everyone that deals with any organization expects the upmost ethically behavior on all levels.
In “No Crueler Tyrannies”, Dorothy Rabinowitz rightly criticizes the lawyers taking part in the prosecution; the nature of these criticisms includes the prosecution’s ultimatum stance on seeking finality over justice, their subjective reactions to the Moral Panic of the time, and the mere lack of physical evidence used in trial.
Suppose that the attorney the Metzgars hired agreed to represent them on a contingency-fee basis. What does that mean?
“The Conscience of the Court” written by Zora Neale Hurston explores the life of a courtroom in the late nineteenth century. Laura Lee Kimble is a strong, loyal, and humble African American woman. Laura has a close connection with Mrs. Clairborne, her close friend and employer, and is loyal to their friendship. This friendship and loyalty is so strong that Laura refused to leave Mrs. Clairborne three times even when her husband asked if they could live somewhere with more money. Clement Beasley, the plaintiff, claims that Mrs. Clairborne borrowed money from him to purchase furnishings for her house; however, when the payment for this money was owed Mrs. Clairborne did not pay him back. Mr. Beasley decides to show up at the house to take
is a legal drama that takes readers through the day by day process of a shocking murder trial.
The last part of the book focuses on the trial. Perry stays in the female cell of the jail where he became very close with Mrs. Meier. Perry refused to sign the statement because he wanted to change two things in it... that Dick had not killed Nancy and her mother. He wanted revenge on Hickok and blamed him for half of the murder which was not true. Dr.Jones is brought into the picture as the phycologist to bring his opinion on the case. The trial was set to start on March 22, 1960, but didn’t start until the Wednesday after. Nancy Ewalt and Susan Kidwell were the first the testify about the murder scene and many followed. Mr.Hickock, Dicks father, didn’t understand why there was a case as they were going to execute them anyways. They bring
In 1930, President Theodore Roosevelt instituted the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for the purpose of providing for those who served in the military and their dependants. Because the VA is dedicated to providing care to those who have made a sacrifice for our country, it is often held to a higher standard than other healthcare providers, however, many have criticized the VA for failing the veterans by being financially wasteful, ethically unsound, and inefficient in providing health care. As of late, the VA has been seen in a negative light due to an influx of scandals, and many have began questioning who should responsible for fixing the issues that haunt the VA. The VA cannot be allowed to continuously fail these
Marshall’s troubles extended beyond simple land or fishing rights dispute. There are symptoms of serious disease in the justice system when it comes to the life and trials of Marshall. Using a troubled youth and racism, the court system put Marshall away for a murder he didn’t commit. This apparent “murder” occurred in May of 1971 when Marshall met an acquaintance by the name of Sandy Seale late at night. Later on, Roy Ebsary and Jimmy MacNeil joined their party and a confrontation ensued where Ebsary stabbed Seale and slashed Marshall. As any troubled youth would do, they fled the scene. Yet, despite the fact that Marshall was the one to return and phone an ambulance, he was the one eventually convicted of the
Equally important is to hire an attorney that is within the ethical boundaries of the profession. With such high consequences' at stake, defendants can not afford to give their cases to lawyers that have spotty ethical records or malpractice marks in their background. Unethical attorneys can result in severe setbacks for the accused. Even if the defunct attorney is successfully removed, time and strategies have already been
Two other important characters in the book were Justices Black and Frankfurter. Chapter 6 provides an excellent review of methods of judicial, particularly those employed by Justices Black and Frankfurter. Lewis’s objective in this chapter is to provide the reader with some idea of the difficulty that a justice faces each time he is forced to decide a case. Gideon had lodged his complaint as if there was no precedent in the area of right to counsel. Gideon had made no reference to Betts, but the Court could certainly not ignore the presence of Betts in making its decision. At the crux of the issue
In the novel Jefferson, a black male convicted of murder, goes on trial with an attorney that focuses on depriving him of human qualities. He makes a point that Jefferson is not capable
Within the book, Dershowitz poses the question of whether prosecutors and defense attorneys are advocates for justice, or only for their clients. The reason for lawyers choosing a client can
These are the people that we look for when we are charged for wrong doing in society. It’s interesting that a man like John Stone walked into the picture. We learn in episode three that John Stone is a defense lawyer that typically doesn’t always try to offer good defense for his clients. Stone picks up the people that know they committed crime and are guilty. This way he can make a quick buck. It’s interesting because we look for lawyers as a sign of hope, but they look at us as an opportunity for profit. Stone offers Nasir Khan’s family a flat fee of $50,000 for his services. The family tells him that they cannot afford him. Instead they choose Alison Crowe to be their son’s attorney. Now Mrs. Crowe doesn’t seem to be very interested in true justice as well. She is quick to try and convince Nasir to take the plea bargain, agreeing to a lesser charge of manslaughter and a 15-year sentence. It seems as if she was looking out for a paycheck and her own time rather than considering his. It seems that if you aren’t the one in trouble then why bother taking on the seriousness of trouble for others? It’s just a job, right? Lawyers shouldn’t be representing people if their only motivation is the money. If money is the only motivation then true justice isn’t being served rightfully. Nasir Khan was in a life sentencing situation and the lawyers representing him didn’t even take that to heart. Nothing
Steven, I agree that an attorney’s obligation is to do what is best for their client. Attorneys generally shoot for a high offer leaving room for negotiation. If attorney White was hired under a contingency fee, then he would only get paid if he wins the case for his client. Typically, when hired under a contingency fee attorney will make thirty three percent of the plaintiffs recovery. Therefore, many attorneys would use the document they found intermixed to their advantage during
The Sheriff, Mr. Hale and the County Attorney are introduced first to the audience. They are investigating the crime scene. The women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, accompany the men to gather whatever of Mrs. Wright's belongings that she needs in jail. This exposition turns ironic when the women end