North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 27 - STATE BAR › Chapter 02 - RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT OF THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BAR › Section .0100 - CLIENT LAWYER RELATIONSHIP › Section 02 RULE 0.01 - PREAMBLE: A LAWYER'S PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
(a) A
				lawyer, as a member of the legal profession, is a representative of clients, an
				officer of the legal system, and a public citizen having special responsibility
				for the quality of justice.
(b) As
				a representative of clients, a lawyer performs various functions. As advisor, a
				lawyer provides a client with an informed understanding of the client's legal
				rights and obligations and explains their practical implications. As advocate,
				a lawyer zealously asserts the client's position under the rules of the
				adversary system. As negotiator, a lawyer seeks a result advantageous to the
				client but consistent with requirements of honest dealing with others. As
				evaluator, a lawyer acts by examining a client's legal affairs and reporting
				about them to the client or to others.
(c) In addition to these representational
				functions, a lawyer may serve as a third-party neutral, a nonrepresentational
				role helping the parties to resolve a dispute or other matter. Some of these
				Rules apply directly to lawyers who are or have served as third-party neutrals.
See, e.g.
, Rules 1.12 and 2.4. In addition, there are Rules
				that apply to lawyers who are not active in the practice of law or to
				practicing lawyers even when they are acting in a nonprofessional capacity. For
				example, a lawyer who commits fraud in the conduct of a business is subject to
				discipline for engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or
				misrepresentation.
See
Rule 8.4.
(d) In all professional functions a lawyer
				should be competent, prompt, and diligent. A lawyer should maintain
				communication with a client concerning the representation. A lawyer should keep
				in confidence information relating to representation of a client except so far
				as disclosure is required or permitted by the Rules of Professional Conduct or
				other law.
(e) A lawyer's conduct
				should conform to the requirements of the law, both in professional service to
				clients and in the lawyer's business and personal affairs. A lawyer should use
				the law's procedures only for legitimate purposes and not to harass or
				intimidate others. A lawyer should demonstrate respect for the legal system and
				for those who serve it, including judges, other lawyers, and public officials.
				While it is a lawyer's duty, when necessary, to challenge the rectitude of
				official action, it is also a lawyer's duty to uphold the legal
				process.
(f) As a public citizen, a
				lawyer should seek improvement of the law, access to the legal system, the
				administration of justice, and the quality of service rendered by the legal
				profession. As a member of a learned profession, a lawyer should cultivate
				knowledge of the law beyond its use for clients, employ that knowledge in
				reform of the law, and work to strengthen legal education. In addition, a
				lawyer should further the public's understanding of and confidence in the rule
				of law and the justice system because legal institutions in a constitutional
				democracy depend on popular participation and support to maintain their
				authority. A lawyer should be mindful of deficiencies in the administration of
				justice and of the fact that the poor, and sometimes persons who are not poor,
				cannot afford adequate legal assistance. Therefore, all lawyers should devote
				professional time and resources and use civic influence to ensure equal access
				to our system of justice for all those who, because of economic or social
				barriers, cannot afford or secure adequate legal counsel. A lawyer should aid
				the legal profession in pursuing these objectives and should help the bar
				regulate itself in the public interest.
(g) A lawyer should render public interest
				legal service and provide civic leadership. A lawyer may discharge this
				responsibility by providing professional services at no fee or a reduced fee to
				persons of limited means or to public service or charitable groups or
				organizations, by service in activities for improving the law, society, the
				legal system or the legal profession, and by financial support for
				organizations that provide legal services to persons of limited
				means.
(h) The legal profession is
				a group of people united in a learned calling for the public good. At their
				best, lawyers assure the availability of legal services to all, regardless of
				ability to pay, and as leaders of their communities, states, and nation,
				lawyers use their education and experience to improve society. It is the basic
				responsibility of each lawyer to provide community service, community
				leadership, and public interest legal services without fee, or at a
				substantially reduced fee, in such areas as poverty law, civil rights, public
				rights law, charitable organization representation, and the administration of
				justice.
(i) The basic
				responsibility for providing legal services for those unable to pay ultimately
				rests upon the individual lawyer. Personal involvement in the problems of the
				disadvantaged can be one of the most rewarding experiences in the life of a
				lawyer. Every lawyer, regardless of professional prominence or professional
				workload, should find time to participate in, or otherwise support, the
				provision of legal services to the disadvantaged. The provision of free legal
				services to those unable to pay reasonable fees continues to be an obligation
				of each lawyer as well as the profession generally, but the efforts of
				individual lawyers are often not enough to meet the need. Thus, the profession
				and government instituted additional programs to provide legal services.
				Accordingly, legal aid offices, lawyer referral services, and other related
				programs were developed, and programs will be developed by the profession and
				the government. Every lawyer should support all proper efforts to meet this
				need for legal services.
(j) Many
				of a lawyer's professional responsibilities are prescribed in the Rules of
				Professional Conduct, as well as substantive and procedural law. However, a
				lawyer is also guided by personal conscience and the approbation of
				professional peers. A lawyer should strive to attain the highest level of
				skill, to improve the law and the legal profession, and to exemplify the legal
				profession's ideals of public service.
(k) A lawyer's responsibilities as a
				representative of clients, an officer of the legal system, and a public citizen
				are usually harmonious. Thus, when an opposing party is well represented, a
				lawyer can be a zealous advocate on behalf of a client and, at the same time,
				assume that justice is being done. So also, a lawyer can be sure that
				preserving client confidences ordinarily serves the public interest because
				people are more likely to seek legal advice, and thereby heed their legal
				obligations, when they know their communications will be private.
(l) In the nature of law practice, however,
				conflicting responsibilities are encountered. Virtually all difficult ethical
				problems arise from conflict between a lawyer's responsibilities to clients, to
				the legal system, and to the lawyer's own interest in remaining an ethical
				person while earning a satisfactory living. The Rules of Professional Conduct
				often prescribe terms for resolving such conflicts. Within the framework of
				these Rules, however, many difficult issues of professional discretion can
				arise. Such issues must be resolved through the exercise of sensitive
				professional and moral judgment guided by the basic principles underlying the
				Rules. These principles include the lawyer's obligation zealously to protect
				and pursue a client's legitimate interests, within the bounds of the law, while
				maintaining a professional, courteous and civil attitude toward all persons
				involved in the legal system.
(m)
				Although a matter is hotly contested by the parties, a lawyer should treat
				opposing counsel with courtesy and respect. The legal dispute of the client
				must never become the lawyer's personal dispute with opposing counsel. A
				lawyer, moreover, should provide zealous but honorable representation without
				resorting to unfair or offensive tactics. The legal system provides a civilized
				mechanism for resolving disputes, but only if the lawyers themselves behave
				with dignity. A lawyer's word to another lawyer should be the lawyer's bond. As
				professional colleagues, lawyers should encourage and counsel new lawyers by
				providing advice and mentoring; foster civility among members of the bar by
				acceding to reasonable requests that do not prejudice the interests of the
				client; and counsel and assist peers who fail to fulfill their professional
				duties because of substance abuse, depression, or other personal
				difficulties.
(n) The legal
				profession is largely self-governing. Although other professions also have been
				granted powers of self-government, the legal profession is unique in this
				respect because of the close relationship between the profession and the
				processes of government and law enforcement. This connection is manifested in
				the fact that ultimate authority over the legal profession is vested largely in
				the courts.
(o) To the extent that
				lawyers meet the obligations of their professional calling, the occasion for
				government regulation is obviated. Self-regulation also helps maintain the
				legal profession's independence from government domination. An independent
				legal profession is an important force in preserving government under law, for
				the abuse of legal authority is more readily challenged by a self-regulated
				profession.
(p) The legal
				profession's relative autonomy carries with it a responsibility to assure that
				its regulations are conceived in the public interest and not in furtherance of
				parochial or self-interested concerns of the bar. Every lawyer is responsible
				for observance of the Rules of Professional Conduct. A lawyer should also aid
				in securing their observance by other lawyers. Neglect of these
				responsibilities compromises the independence of the profession and the public
				interest which it serves.
(q)
				Lawyers play a vital role in the preservation of society. The fulfillment of
				this role requires an understanding by lawyers of their relationship to our
				legal system. The Rules of Professional Conduct, when properly applied, serve
				to define that relationship.
Authority
				  G.S.
				  84-23;
Eff. July 24,
				  1997;
Amended Eff. November 16, 2006; February 27,
				  2003.