Opinion ID: 1834220
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Respondent's Argument

Text: Respondent does not challenge this court's constitutional power or responsibility to adopt Rule 1.16(a)(3) in regulating the practice of law. Nor does she deny that La.R.S. 9:2448 is in conflict with Rule 1.16(a)(3) or that the statute must yield to the rule. But in connection with a different issue she suggests that the attorney named by the testator should be considered the testator's attorney, not the executor's. From this we infer that respondent would argue that the executrix in the present case cannot invoke Rule 1.16(a)(3), which gives a client an absolute right to discharge his lawyer, because the attorney designated by the testator does not act as attorney for the executrix or executor. That an attorney who renders legal services in furtherance of the administration of a testate succession is acting as the attorney for the executor conducting that administration seems self-evident. The decisions of this court and La.R.S. 9:2448 itself indicate that regardless of who names the attorney, he becomes the executor's attorney when he advises and assists the executor in the management of the estate. The legislature acknowledged as much by passing La.R.S. 9:2448 in an attempt to restrict the executor's power to discharge the attorney by providing that he may do so only for just cause. If the executor had been powerless to fire the attorney in the first place, because of the lack of an attorney-client relationship, there would have been no need for the legislation at all. Moreover, this court has indicated by its decisions in Succession of Jenkins, supra and Succession of Boyenga, supra that an attorney client relationship exists between the executor and those who take under the will and the attorney who is named therein. See Mengis, supra at 418. Furthermore, respondent's argument quickly reduces itself to an absurdity, because an attorney with only the testator for a client would become his own master and invulnerable to discharge by anyone, even for just cause based on outrageous abuse. Finally, even in Rivet v. Battistella and its progeny we find both express statements and implications to the effect that, although the attorney has been appointed by the testator's binding designation, he is required to provide legal services to the executor and heirs in the administration of the estate, and that they are bound to accept the attorney's services. Id.; Succession of Feitel, 187 La. 596, 175 So. 72 (1937); Succession of Rembert, 199 La. 743, 7 So.2d 40 (1942); Succession of Bush, 223 La. 1008, 67 So.2d 573 (1953); Succession of Pope, 230 La. 1049, 89 So.2d 894 (1956); and Succession of Falgout, 279 So.2d 679 (La.1973). In any event, it is not the prerogative of the legislature to define or regulate the practice of law or the attorney-client relationship. It is emphatically the province and the duty of this court to define the roles of client and attorney in the client-attorney relationship, by rule or adjudication, and to say what the law is in that regard. By applying rules and precepts to particular cases, we must of necessity authoritatively expound and interpret those precepts. If it were otherwise, the legislature could, as it has attempted to do in this case, render ineffective the inherent judicial authority by amending or superseding any decision or duly adopted rule of this court governing the practice of law. The Rules of Professional Conduct are regulatory laws adopted by this court in the interests of the public, the courts and the legal profession. The purpose of lawyer discipline and disability proceedings employing these rules is to maintain appropriate standards of professional conduct in order to protect the public and the administration of justice from lawyers who have demonstrated by their conduct that they are unable or unlikely to be able to properly discharge their professional duties. ABA Standards for Lawyer Discipline and Disability Proceedings § 1 (1979). Accordingly, the disciplinary rules are rules of reason that should be interpreted and applied with reference to the purposes of maintaining appropriate professional standards and protecting the public and the courts from substandard attorney conduct. In performing its regulatory function by applying and interpreting the disciplinary rules, this court will look beyond superficialities for legal, economic and social realities; it will not accept uncritically the characterization or nomenclature assigned to relationships or transactions by other tribunals or branches of government. A brief look at the interactions of attorneys and executors in the administration of successions convinces us that a client-attorney relationship is created between them when the attorney performs any significant legal service in furtherance of the administration of the estate. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine any valuable legal service that a lawyer could render for a testate succession that would not also aid the executor in the performance of his broad duties. The functions of an executor are to collect the assets of the estate, pay the succession debts, and distribute the balance of the property in accordance with the decedent's will or the laws governing intestate successions. The succession representative's principal activity is to liquidate the part of the decedent's estate which is required to satisfy the claims against the succession. Comment, Powers of Succession Representative in Louisiana, 27 Tul.L.Rev. 87 (1952). An executor or other succession representative is a fiduciary with respect to the succession, and shall have the duty of collecting, preserving, and managing the property of the succession in accordance with law. He shall act at all times as a prudent administrator, and shall be personally responsible for all damages resulting from his failure so to act. La.C.C.P. art. 3191. Under the code of civil procedure the executor or other succession representative has been given broadened powers: the right to compromise any action or right of action by or against the succession or to extend, render, or in any manner modify the terms of any obligation owed by or to the succession. La.C.C.P. art 3198; to be deemed to have possession of all property of the succession and to enforce all obligations in its favor. La.C.C.P. art. 3211; to preserve, repair, maintain, and protect the property of the succession. La.C.C.P. art. 3221; to invest the funds of the succession and make them productive. La.C.C.P. art. 3223; to under court order continue any business of the deceased subject to testamentary provisions. La.C.C.P. art. 3224; to lease the succession property. La.C.C.P. art. 3226; to perform an executory contract in writing, which the deceased entered before his death. La.C.C.P. art 3227; to borrow money for the purpose of preserving the property or the orderly administration of the estate. La.C.C.P. art. 3228. In light of the executor's functions, powers and duties, we conclude that he is in truth the majordomo of the estate, having possession of all its property as well as the power and the responsibility to preserve its assets and enforce its claims. As such, the executor is in need of legal representation in order to make proper management decisions and protect himself against considerable risk of personal liability. If an attorney has been designated to handle the succession and accepts the assignment, he is duty bound to provide representation to the executor simply because the executor is the only person legally empowered to act with respect to the succession. Thus, there is at least an inchoate client-attorney relationship between the executor and the designated attorney from the moment of the executor's confirmation and issuance of letters testamentary. Consequently, we are convinced that the relationship between the executor and the attorney falls within the client-attorney relationship envisioned by Rule 1.16(a)(3) and the Rules of Professional Conduct. Furthermore, it is universally held that when an attorney is employed to render services in procuring the admission of a will to probate, or in settling the estate, he acts as attorney of the executor, and not of the estate, and for his services the executor is personally responsible. In Re Estate of Ogier, 101 Cal. 381, 385, 35 P. 900, 901 (1894) (There is no such office or position know to law as `attorney for an estate' ... [h]e acts as the attorney for the executor) (emphasis added). In Re Caldwell, 188 N.Y. 115, 80 N.E. 663 (1907); Laus v. Braasch (In Re Braasch's Estate), 274 Wis. 569, 80 N.W.2d 759 (1957); Johnston, supra at 102 n. 288 (1984); deFuria, Jr., supra at 278 n. 16 (In most states, the attorney who handles the legal affairs of the estate represents the executor.); Levin, Legal Ramifications of Unethical Planning Practices, 124 Trusts & Estates 47, 50 (Oct. 1984) (... a lawyer has no vested interest in representing the estate of one whose will he has drawn ... the executor is entirely free to select any counsel he may wish.); Comment, WillsDirection to Employ Certain Attorney for Probate, 36 Marq.L.Rev. 211, 212 (1952) (The office of... `attorney for the estate' is unknown to law. These terms are popularly used to indicate one who is attorney for the administrator or executor in the management of the estate.); see also In Re Arneberg's Estate, 184 Wis. 570, 200 N.W. 557 (1924); In Re Lachmund's Estate, 179 Or. 420, 170 P.2d 748 (1946); In Re Estate of Deardoff, 10 Oh.St.3d 108, 461 N.E.2d 1292 (1984); In Re Estate of Fresia, 390 So.2d 176 (Fla. App. 1980); Chancey v. West, 266 Ala. 314, 96 So.2d 457 (1957); In Re Estate of Marks, 83 So.2d 853 (Fla. 1955); Comment, WillsEffect of Testamentary Designation of Counsel For The Executor, 31 Marq.L. Rev. 231 (1947); Comment, Testamentary Directions to Employ, 41 Harv.L.Rev. 709 (1928). The idea that the living attorney is actually performing legal services for a dead testator is quite problematic. As Cardozo remarked in a different client-attorney context, [t]he notion that such a thing is possible betrays a strange misconception of the function of the legal profession and its duty to society. Andrewes v. Haas, 214 N.Y. 255, 108 N.E. 423 (1915). [4] The initial problem is that only a person is capable of having rights and obligations. Plainiol, Traite Elementaire De Droit Civil, Vol. I, Part I, § 362. Since legal personality is lost with life; the dead are no longer persons having rights and obligations. La. C.C. art. 25; Plainiol, Traite Elementaire De Droit Civil, Vol. I, Part I, 1 § 371; see Yiannopoulas, Louisiana Civil Law System § 50 (1977). The idea that a dead person continues a legal consensual relationship with a living fiduciary who was appointed to act primarily for his benefit and subject to his control is a fiction having no basis in our general principles of law. See Comment, Termination of Powers of Attorney in Louisiana by Operation of Law, 25 Tul. L.Rev. 249 (1951). Second, the contract of the mandate necessitates that one person give power to another person to transact for him and in his name, one or several affairs. La.C.C. art. 2935. Thus, if the testator is considered the client, then by operation of law his death would automatically terminate the attorney-client relationship. Kinsey v. Dixon, 467 So.2d 862, 864 (La.App. 2d Cir.1985); Due v. Due, 342 So.2d 161, 164-165 (La.1977); La.C.C. art. 3027; Comment, The Attorney-Client Relation in Louisiana, 28 La.L.Rev. 690, 702 (1958). Third, inherent in the concept of the attorney-client relationship is the opportunity for effective communication between the parties as part of a dynamic and changing relationship. Rule 1.4 (A lawyer shall keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter and promptly comply with reasonable requests for information... the lawyer shall give the client sufficient information to participate intelligently in decisions....); Rule 2.1 (In representing a client, a lawyer shall exercise independent professional judgment and render candid advice.); Wolfram, supra at § 4.5, 164 (nothing lends more vitality to the client-lawyer relationship than effective communications between lawyer and client... [a] client has an equal interest in receiving legal evaluations and advice from the lawyer and in being kept informed by the lawyer about important steps in the matter, and, periodically, about whether progress is being made or not.). Respondent also suggests that the designated attorney may be considered the attorney for the succession, rather than the attorney for the executor. But a succession is no more of a person or legal entity than a deceased human being. Succession is the transmission of the estate of the deceased to his successors.    La. C.C. art. 871. Thus, succession is defined as a process, and the code now avoids use of the meaning of succession which describes the estate of the deceased as if it were a separate legal entity. Id. Comment. Likewise, article 872 permits reference to the estate of the deceased as including property, rights, and obligations a person leaves after his death, but grants no separate legal existence to such an entity. La.C.C. art. 872 and comment. In support of the idea that a client-attorney relationship between the testator and the attorney designated in the will survives the testator's death and precludes a professional relationship between the attorney and the executor, respondent cites Rules of Professional Conduct 1.2(a), 1.8(f), and 1.16, La.C.C.P. art. 5091, and Succession of Zatarain, 138 So.2d 163 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1962). But none of these authorities supports the concept. Rule 1.2(a) provides that: A lawyer shall abide by a client's decisions concerning the objectives of the representation,..., and shall consult with the client as to the means by which they are to be pursued. A lawyer shall abide by a client's decision whether to accept and offer of settlement of a matter. In a criminal case, the lawyer shall abide by the client's decision, after consultation with the lawyer, as to a plea to be entered, whether to waive jury trial and whether the client will testify. The comment under the rule, in pertinent part, provides that: Both lawyer and client have authority and responsibility in the objectives and means of representation. The client has ultimate authority to determine the purposes to be served by legal representation, within the limits imposed by law and the lawyer's professional obligations. Within those limits, a client also has a right to consult with the lawyer about the means to be used in pursuing those objectives. Respondent contends that because the decedent's wishes, as expressed in his last will and testament, dictate the ultimate objectives in the administration of a succession, the decedent should be considered to be the client who determines the purposes to be served by the legal representation. We do not agree. The function of the executor is to collect the assets of the estate, pay the succession debts, and distribute the balance of the property in accordance with the decedent's will. Comment, Powers of A Succession Representative in Louisiana 27 La.L.Rev. 88 (1952). The function of the attorney is to provide competent representation to the executor to assist him in performing his duties. The fact that the will, within legal limits, governs the distribution of property does not make the decedent the client, and, of course, does not enable him to supervise the performance of the executor's duties. In fact, Rule 1.2(a), as every other rule, contemplates a lawyer's representation of a living client who has a right to consult with the lawyer about the means to be used in pursuing [the client's] objectives. Id. Comment [1]. Of course, when the lawyer knows that the executor expects assistance not permitted by law or the Rules of Professional Conduct, the lawyer is obliged to consult with the client regarding the relevant limitations on the lawyer's conduct. Rule 1.2(e). Rule 1.8(f), in pertinent part, states: A lawyer shall not accept compensation for representing a client from one other than the client unless: (1) the client consents after consultation   . Respondent argues that because the attorney will be paid with succession funds the rule indicates that the testator is the client. But she overlooks the fact that it is the executor's duty to pay the lawyer's fee with succession funds as a debt of the succession. The succession is not a legal entity and therefore cannot pay anyone. The only person or legal entity involved who can act as a client in paying the lawyer is the executor. La.C.C.P. art. 5091(2) provides that the court shall appoint an attorney at law to represent the defendant, on the petition or ex parte written motion of the plaintiff, when the action or proceeding is in rem and the defendant is dead, no succession representative has been appointed, and his heirs and legatees have not been sent into possession judicially ... or ... the defendant's property is under the administration of a legal representative, but the latter has died, resigned, or been removed from office and not successor thereof has qualified, or has left the state permanently without appointing someone to represent him. (Emphasis added) Respondent cites these as instances in which an attorney is authorized to represent a deceased person directly. But the fact that such representation is specially authorized only in proceedings in rem when no succession representative has been appointed or the latter has died, indicates that an attorney may not directly represent a deceased person in other types of proceedings, or even in an in rem proceeding when there is a living, duly appointed succession representative. Rule 1.16 requires a lawyer to withdraw from representation of a client if representation would be contrary to the rules of professional conduct or other law; the lawyer's mental or physical condition materially impairs his representation; or the lawyer is discharged. Respondent points out that the rule does not require the attorney to withdraw upon the death of the client. But death of the client itself terminates the client-attorney relationship by operation of law; therefore, there is no necessity for a rule requiring the attorney to withdraw when the client dies. Due v. Due, 342 So.2d 161, 164-165 (La.1977); Kinsey v. Dixon, 467 So.2d 862, 864 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1985). In Succession of Zatarain, 138 So.2d 163 (La.App. 1st Cir.1962) the court of appeal held that an attorney named in a will to handle the testator's estate could not delegate his appointment to another attorney, but, in dicta, recognized that an attorney named by a testator to represent the testator's executor or heirs enjoys an `irrevocable status' in that as an agent of the testator so designated in the testator's will he may not be discharged from the mandate thusly conferred. Id. at 169. Respondent contends that the court drew a significant distinction between an executor and a client, but the dicta of the court ambiguously refers to the attorney as agent of testator and as the lawyer named ... to represent the testator's executor. Considering that the ambiguous statement was obiter dicta, uttered in a lower court opinion prior to the adoption of Rule 1.16(a)(3) and prior to this court's overruling of Rivet v. Batistella, respondent's argument in this regard is not very persuasive. Finally, respondent suggests that this court should uphold La.R.S. 9:2448 because invalidating it might call into question a similar provision, La. R.S. 9:2241(A), that provides that a designation in a trust instrument of an attorney to handle legal matters relating to the trust shall be binding on the trustee and the beneficiary. But the question of the validity of La.R.S. 9:2241(A) is clearly not before us. The plaintiff has not challenged that statute and evidently has no interest or standing to bring such a suit. Further, the trust instrument statute is not identical to the law before us today, and we cannot anticipate what the precise factual context will be when and if we are called upon to consider the trust instrument statute's validity in a future case. Finally, the assertion that our decision may have implications for future cases cannot in any way deter this court from rendering its opinion in the present case upon whether the statute in question conflicts with a rule of this court and the exercise of its inherent judicial power.