Also known as: prospective clients · potential client
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A person who consults with a lawyer about the possibility of forming a client-lawyer relationship with respect to a matter. Even without a formal engagement the lawyer owes duties of confidentiality and may face disqualification from adverse representations if the information received could prove significantly harmful.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Pavel Petrov meets with a lawyer to discuss forming an LLC that he privately states will conceal ownership to evade sanctions. The lawyer explains the ethical limits on assisting with criminal conduct. Pavel insists the lawyer prepare the documents anyway. The lawyer must decline the engagement because the prospective client seeks to use the services to further a crime or fraud.
Phoebe Park consults a lawyer about a potential personal-injury claim arising from a car accident. The lawyer evaluates the facts and gives advice on pursuing the claim but never mentions the two-year filing deadline or follows up. Phoebe reasonably relies on the consultation and lets the deadline pass. The lawyer faces malpractice liability to the prospective client for failing to advise about or investigate the claim.
Piper Patel emails a lawyer describing a contract dispute and asks whether the lawyer can represent her in filing suit. The lawyer replies with questions seeking more facts about the transaction. Piper qualifies as a prospective client because she consulted about forming a client-lawyer relationship.
Preston Pratt shares nonpublic terms of a pending business acquisition during a consultation that does not result in representation. Months later the lawyer is asked to advise another client on a similar transaction. The lawyer may not use or reveal the information learned from the prospective client.
Paula Pierce consults a lawyer about a divorce and discloses detailed financial information that would harm her position if revealed. The lawyer is later asked to represent Paula's spouse in the same proceeding. The lawyer is disqualified because the information received from the prospective client could be significantly harmful in the substantially related matter.
A back-and-forth exchange in which the person seeks legal advice and the lawyer responds with questions or analysis counts as a consultation. Written, oral, or electronic communications can qualify depending on the circumstances.
Yes. Even when no client-lawyer relationship forms, the lawyer may not use or reveal information learned from the prospective client except as permitted for former-client information under Rule 1.9.
A lawyer must decline or withdraw if the prospective client persists in seeking the lawyer's services to commit or further a crime or fraud after the lawyer has discussed the ethical limits under Rules 1.2(d) and 1.4(a)(5).
Yes. An attorney-client relationship and attendant duties can arise from an initial consultation where the lawyer gives legal advice and the prospective client reasonably relies on it, even without a retainer or fee.
A lawyer is disqualified from representing a client with materially adverse interests in the same or a substantially related matter if the lawyer received information from the prospective client that could be significantly harmful to that person.