Source: https://lalegalethics.org/louisiana-rules-of-professional-conduct/article-1-client-lawyer-relationship/rule-1-16-declining-or-terminating-representation/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 10:44:31+00:00

Document:
(d) Upon termination of representation, a lawyer shall take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client’s interests, such as giving reasonable notice to the client, allowing time for employment of other counsel, surrendering papers and property to which the client is entitled and refunding any advance payment of fee or expense that has not been earned or incurred. Upon written request by the client, the lawyer shall promptly release to the client or the client’s new lawyer the entire file relating to the matter. The lawyer may retain a copy of the file but shall not condition release over issues relating to the expense of copying the file or for any other reason. The responsibility for the cost of copying shall be determined in an appropriate proceeding.
Paragraphs (a) through (c) are identical to ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.16(a-c) (2002).
Paragraph (d) is identical to the model rule, with the additional language set forth in the last three sentences (beginning with: “Upon written request . . . .”). This language, initially adopted by the Louisiana Supreme Court in 2001, clarifies that client files belong to clients, and that lawyers must promptly and unconditionally return any client files upon request.
 When a lawyer has been appointed to represent a client, withdrawal ordinarily requires approval of the appointing authority. See also Rule 6.2. Similarly, court approval or notice to the court is often required by applicable law before a lawyer withdraws from pending litigation. Difficulty may be encountered if withdrawal is based on the client’s demand that the lawyer engage in unprofessional conduct. The court may request an explanation for the withdrawal, while the lawyer may be bound to keep confidential the facts that would constitute such an explanation. The lawyer’s statement that professional considerations require termination of the representation ordinarily should be accepted as sufficient. Lawyers should be mindful of their obligations to both clients and the court under Rules 1.6 and 3.3.
 Even if the lawyer has been unfairly discharged by the client, a lawyer must take all reasonable steps to mitigate the consequences to the client. The lawyer may retain papers as security for a fee only to the extent permitted by law. See Rule 1.15.
This rule is organized as follows: paragraph (a) addresses those circumstances under which a lawyer must terminate representation; paragraph (b) addresses when a lawyer may terminate representation; paragraph (c) addresses when a lawyer must not terminate representation, namely when a tribunal orders the lawyer to continue the representation; and, paragraph (d) addresses a lawyer’s obligations upon termination of the representation.
Under paragraph (a), a lawyer must decline (or terminate) representation if the representation will result in a violation of the ethics rules or the law, if the lawyer’s representation is or would be impaired by a physical or mental condition, or if the client discharges the lawyer. Nevertheless, the lawyer must continue the representation if so ordered by a tribunal.
Under paragraph (b), a lawyer may withdraw from representation at any time if the lawyer can do so without material adverse effect on the interests of the client. Furthermore, a lawyer may withdraw, even when doing so would adversely affect the client, if any of the following circumstances exist: the client persists in using the lawyer’s services, or has used the lawyer’s services in the past, in connection with a crime or fraud; the client insists on pursuing a repugnant or imprudent objective; the client has persistently refused to pay the lawyer’s fees or costs; the representation has become an unreasonable financial burden to the lawyer; the client has made the representation unreasonably difficult; or “other good cause for withdrawal exists.” Notwithstanding a basis for permissive withdrawal, the lawyer must continue to represent the client if so ordered by a tribunal.
Under paragraph (c), a lawyer must continue to represent a client when ordered to do so by a tribunal, even though grounds exist for either mandatory or permissive withdrawal. A trial court’s decision to grant or deny a motion to withdraw is a matter left to the court’s sound discretion. See WSF, Inc. v. Carter, 803 So. 2d 445, 448 (La. Ct. App. 2d Cir. 2001); see also Hill v. Tanner, No. 12-369, 2012 WL 4059898 at *6 (E. D. La July 5, 2012) (denying lawyer’s request to withdraw after disclosure of client’s criminal activity pursuant to Rule 3.3(b)). Note that a lawyer who withdraws with permission of the tribunal under Rule 1.16(c) must also comply with Uniform Rule for Louisiana Courts Rule 9.13. See Berwick v. Berwick, 2015 La. Ct. App. Unpub. LEXIS 501, *10 (La. Ct. App. 3d Cir. 2015); see also Jackson v. Fedex Corporated Servs., 165 So. 3d 206, 208 (La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 2015) (holding that rule 9.13 of the Uniform Rules of Louisiana Courts and the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct require, a lawyer to notify client of withdrawal and the status of the case in writing.).
Under paragraph (d), once a lawyer has decided to withdraw from an ongoing representation, the lawyer must take whatever steps are necessary to protect the client’s interests. For example, the lawyer must give the client reasonable notice and opportunity to hire substitute counsel. See In re Gaharan; 6 So. 3d 745, 748-49 (La. 2009) (suspending lawyer for failure to inform client and court of the lawyer’s withdrawal from client’s bankruptcy proceeding); see also Blank v. Equisol, L.L.C., 2015 La. Ct. App. Unpub. LEXIS 305, *8 (La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. June 18, 2015) (finding that lawyer’s motion to withdraw filed ten months before the trial date was “more than sufficient for [client] to hire new counsel”). Also, a discharged lawyer with a fee lien may not hold a client’s settlement proceeds hostage to further the lawyer’s self-interest. In In re Williams-Bensaadat, No. 2015-B-1535 (La. Nov. 6, 2015), the court suspended a lawyer for refusing to endorse a settlement check in an effort to force a resolution of her fee claim.
A lawyer must surrender to the lawyer’s client all papers and property to which the client is entitled, and refund any fees that have been paid but not yet earned. See, e.g., In re McNeely; 98 So. 3d 275, 279 (La. 2012) (suspending a lawyer for failure to properly withdraw from representation and failure to return client’s file and unearned fee); In re Guste, 185 So. 3d 740 (La. 2016) (suspending lawyer for failing to return client’s file and refund unearned fees after several other similar disciplinary matters); In re Bolton, 820 So.2d 548, 554 (La. 2002) (suspending lawyer for failing to timely return an original will to client); In re Wharton, 964 So. 2d 311, 315-316 (La. 2007) (disbarring a lawyer for failure to return unearned fees and failure to return a client’s file subsequent to a three-year suspension for similar misconduct); In re Hyman, 958 So. 2d 646 (La. 2007) (disciplining lawyer for failing to return three clients’ files upon termination of representation); In re Salinas, 202 So.3d 163, 164 (La. 2016) (suspending lawyer for failure to return client’s file upon request, among other reasons); In re Renfroe, 800 So. 2d 371, 373 (La. 2001) (disciplining lawyer under this paragraph for failing to return unearned portion of fee at termination); In re Turnage, 790 So. 2d 620 (La. 2001) (finding violation of Rule 1.16 (d) where lawyer failed to comply with client’s requests for file). A lawyer may not hold a client’s file “hostage” and demand payment of outstanding costs related to the matter or to copying the file before turning over the file.
When a lawyer terminates association with a firm, the lawyer has no individual right to retain a copy of a former client’s file—at least when the client originally retained the firm continues to be represented by the firm and not by the departed lawyer. See Edwin K. Hunter, APC v. Blazier, 203 So. 3d 515, 518 (La. Ct. App. 3d Cir. 2016) (ordering departed lawyer to return documents of former client to firm and “prohibiting him from retaining copy of any of those documents”).
As to what constitutes “the file,” a formal opinion from the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Responsibility has clarified what files, papers, and property must be surrendered to the lawyer’s client. See ABA Formal Op. 471 at 3 ( Jul. 1, 2015). Most jurisdictions, and the Restatement of Law (Third) Governing Lawyers, require a lawyer to surrender the “entire file” of the client—namely, all documents “possessed by the lawyer relating to the representation, unless substantial grounds exist to refuse.” See id. at 3; Restatement of the Law (Third) the Law Governing Lawyers § 46 (2000). The entire-file approach “assumes that the client has an expansive general right to materials related to the representation and retains that right when the representation ends.” See ABA Formal Op. 471 at 3.
Note that under Civil Code article 3496, “[a]n action by a client against an attorney for the return of papers delivered to him for purposes of a law suit is subject to a liberative prescription of three years. This prescription commences to run from the rendition of a final judgment in the law suit or the termination of the attorney-client relationship.” See La. Civ. Code art. 3496.
Paragraph (a) requires a lawyer to withdraw from a representation when continued representation “will result in violation of the rules of professional conduct or other law.” La. Rules of Prof’l Conduct R. 1.16(a)(1) (2004). To avoid violating Rule 1.16(a), a lawyer should withdraw from an engagement once a lawyer is ineligible to practice. See In re Thomas, 115 So. 3d 466, 472 (La. 2013) (finding lawyer’s continued representation while ineligible to practice law violated Rules 1.16(a) and 1.16(d)); In re Polk, 174 So. 3d 1131, 1135 (La. 2015) (imposing discipline for practicing law while ineligible). Note that a lawyer may have addition obligations upon learning that a client has used the lawyer’s services to violate the law.
A lawyer must withdraw from representing a client once the client has instructed the lawyer to do so. See, e.g., In re Cooper; 23 So. 3d 886 (La. 2009); In re White, 706 So. 2d 964 (La. 1998); American Gen. Inv. Corp. v. St. Elmo Lands, 391 So. 2d 570, 573 (La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 1980); In re Gilbert, 185 So. 3d 734 (La. 2016). A lawyer designated in a will as the lawyer for the executor must withdraw if directed to do so by the executor. Although Louisiana Revised Statutes section 9:2448 provides that such an attorney may be discharged only for “just cause,” Louisiana jurisprudence holds that a client’s right to discharge an attorney at any time nonetheless controls. See Succession of Wallace, 574 So. 2d 348, 355 (La. 1991) (recognizing that Rule 1.16(a)(3) gives “the client the absolute right to fire a lawyer in whom he has lost faith or confidence” and prevails over section 9:2448(b)(2) to preserve the court’s power and responsibility to define and regulate the practice of law).
Absent aggravating or mitigating circumstances, the following sanctions are generally appropriate in cases involving a lawyer’s duty to withdraw properly from representation: disbarment, when the lawyer knowingly engages in conduct that is a violation of a duty owed to the profession with the intent to obtain a benefit for the lawyer or another, and causes serious or potentially serious injury to a client, the public, or the legal system; suspension, when the lawyer knowingly engages in conduct that is a violation of a duty owed to the profession, and causes injury or potential injury to a client, the public, or the legal system; reprimand, when the lawyer negligently engages in conduct that is a violation of a duty owed to the profession, and causes injury or potential injury to a client, the public, or the legal system; and, admonition, when the lawyer engages in an isolated instance of negligence that is a violation of a duty owed to the profession, and causes little or no actual or potential injury to a client, the public, or the legal system. See ABA Stds. for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions stds. 7.1-7.4 (1992).

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 46
 art. 3496
 v.