Opinion ID: 2423620
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: attorney-client relationships.

Text: Respondent relies on Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Elmendorf, 404 Md. 353, 946 A.2d 542 (2008), for the proposition that no attorney-client relationship was formed when a woman who had a social relationship with an attorney asked the attorney if she could avoid the one-year separation requirement to obtain a divorce. The attorney told her in writing that [y]ou can file whatever you want so long as the parties say that it has been a year, the court won't question it so long as the parties agree to that. Id. at 355, 946 A.2d at 544. The Commission alleged that the attorney violated Rule 1.2(d) (among other rules), but the trial court rejected that contention on the ground that the Commission had not proved that the attorney represented the woman, even though the woman knew that the respondent was an attorney and the conversation clearly involved legal issues. The Commission did not even except to that finding, and the Court of Appeals appeared to endorse it. See id. at 361 n. 10, 946 A.2d at 547 n. 10. Respondent argues that the evidence in this case established that Mr. Coppola's client was Ms. West and no evidence suggested that Mr. Coppola counseled Ms. West to engage in a crime or fraud, or that he assisted Ms. West in committing a crime or fraud. Although Mr. Coppola discussed various matters with Ms. West's children and he certainly tried to help them achieve a goal that he believed they shared with their mother, Petitioner did not establish by clear and convincing evidence that Ms. Swink or her siblings were Mr. Coppola's clients in the matter before the Court.3 3 Mr. Coppola had previously represented Ms. Swink in connection with her estate plan, but that matter ended many years earlier. The question of who was Mr. Coppola's client is critical. He only spoke to Ms. West one time in June 2008 for a very short phone conversation, but never charged her a fee, never prepared any documents, and never confirmed her testamentary or estate planning wishes in any way that objectively proves her estate planning intent. In August 2008, Mr. Coppola only talked to Ms. Swink, his former client, who asked that he prepare the estate planning documents for her hospitalized mother. It is impossible to determine from the evidence that this request actually came from Ms. West or that Ms. West had the same estate planning intent as of August 25, 2008, as she had during the June 2008 conversation with Mr. Coppola or as she had in her 1995 Will. The issue of the attorney-client relationship or relationships that were formed can be analyzed in various ways. The formation of an attorney-client relationship can be difficult to define.    The Brooke case sets out a test that is more applicable to the instant case. The Court adopted a test that does not depend on whether a contractual relationship was formed, but relies on whether the lawyer communicated with a person and gave advice on a subject that required professional skill and judgment under circumstances where the purported client relied on the advice. In Brooke, the lawyer prepared legal documents and advice related to the documents for a friend. The Court concluded that there was an attorney-client relationship formed. These principals can be applied in the instant case. Mr. Coppola asserts that only Ms. West was his client because he spoke with her in June 2008, prepared documents in August 2008 at the request of her agent (Ms. Swink, his former client), and invoiced Ms. West on August 28, 2008, for the work performed. By implication, he asserts that he did not represent any of Ms. West's four children. But this ignores the totality of the circumstances. In the hospital room on August 25, 2008, it was clear to Mr. Coppola that Ms. West was mentally unable to execute the estate planning documents or confirm that the documents expressed her current intent. At best, he knew that the documents reflected whatever Ms. West had told Mr. Coppola in the conversation of June 2008. But, in August 2008, there was no way to determine whether the documents which were much more extensive than her 1995 Will really did meet with her approval, because she never reviewed any of the details of those documents. At a minimum, however, Mr. Coppola thought that he was acting on behalf of Ms. West when he created the documents before going to the hospital. The Court concludes, by clear and convincing evidence, that there was an attorney-client relationship between Mr. Coppola and Ms. West. This does not preclude that he also had an attorney-client relationship with the four children. In the hospital, according to Mr. Coppola, he explained to the four children about the benefits to them that would be derived from the estate planning documents that he had prepared. He advised them that, if they all agreed, then the documents could be executed. He permitted the documents to be executed in all their presence. He failed to advise them about any criminal penalty or exposure to fraud that might occur against them from carrying out this plan even though Ms. West was incompetent. He then took the documents and, on behalf of the four children, made changes to reflect the agreement of the four children. He brought copies of the documents back to the four children the next day. He then proceeded to take actions to carry out the plan he created with the four children, i.e., filing the deed and delivery of the documents to Ms. Swink to carry out transfers to the Trust and/or probate the estate at the appropriate time. In testimony, Mr. Coppola identified not only Ms. Swink as his client, but all of those in Ms. West's hospital room. Therefore, the court concludes, by clear and convincing evidence, that Mr. Coppola had an attorney-client relationship with the four children of Ms. West. The hearing judge then concluded that Coppola assisted Ms. West's children in committing a criminal or fraudulent act: