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<img style="max-width: 100%;height: auto;max-width: 100%;height: auto" loading="lazy" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2269" src="https://www.thelawforlawyerstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/754/2016/01/Discussion-300x225.jpg" alt="3d people - person talking" width="300" height="225">We&rsquo;ve&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thelawforlawyerstoday.com/2015/11/buying-pre-fab-legal-blog-content-any-ethics-issues-with-that/">mentioned before </a>that some courts look with disfavor on lawyers helping&nbsp;pro se litigants by ghostwriting briefs for them to&nbsp;file&nbsp;as their own.&nbsp; Some opinions discussing the issue frame the conduct as lawyer deceit, as misrepresentation, or even as potential contempt of court.&nbsp; In a related twist, the ABA ethics committee has recently tried to issue some advice for the lawyer on the other side of the case.
Limited scope quandary
In <a href="http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/images/abanews/FormalOpinion472FINAL.pdf">Opinion 472</a>, the committee addressed the obligations of a lawyer under <a href="http://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_4_2_communication_with_person_represented_by_counsel.html">Model Rule 4.2</a> (Communicating with Persons Represented by Counsel) and <a href="http://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_4_3_dealing_with_unrepresented_person.html">Model Rule 4.3</a> (Dealing with Unrepresented Person) when a pro se litigant is receiving limited-scope representation, a form of practice permitted under <a href="http://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_1_2_scope_of_representation_allocation_of_authority_between_client_lawyer.html">Model Rule 1.2</a>(c).&nbsp; What do you do if a pro se litigant is on the other side of a case from your client, and&nbsp;you have reason to believe that&nbsp;the party has gotten some assistance from a lawyer &mdash; in writing the most recent brief, for instance.&nbsp; Can you contact that pro se party directly and communicate with him or her?&nbsp;&nbsp;Or is the party &ldquo;represented,&rdquo; requiring you to go through the lawyer?
As is commonly known, Rule 4.2 (the &ldquo;no-contact&rdquo; rule) says that if you &ldquo;know&rdquo; that a person is represented by another lawyer in a matter, you may not communicate&nbsp; about the subject of the representation with that person without the other lawyer&rsquo;s consent.&nbsp; &ldquo;Knowledge&rdquo; can be inferred from the circumstances.
In its opinion, the committee noted the &ldquo;quandary&rdquo; for the lawyer on the other side of a matter where a supposedly pro se party appears to be getting or to have gotten some limited legal assistance; the committee&nbsp;acknowledged that the situation doesn&rsquo;t fit naturally into either the traditional full-matter representation contemplated under Rule 4.2&rsquo;s no-contact rule or the wholly-pro se rubric of Rule 4.3, where the lawyer can, within&nbsp;limits, talk to the opposing party.
&ldquo;Rules of Reason&rdquo;
But the Model Rules are &ldquo;rules of reason,&rdquo; said the committee, to be interpreted with &ldquo;reference to the purposes of legal representation and the law itself.&rdquo;
Therefore, the committee recommended that when a lawyer sees indications that the person has received some degree of legal assistance on a case, that the lawyer inquire whether the person is in fact represented by counsel.&nbsp; Such indications include briefs that appear ghostwritten.&nbsp; (Parenthetically, in 2007 the ABA&rsquo;s committee said in passing that ghostwriting a brief for a client does not violate ethics rules, differing from&nbsp;the position taken by some courts.&nbsp; See&nbsp;Formal Op. 07-447 (subs. req.).)
The committee acknowledged that Rule 4.2 does not include a duty to ask whether a person is represented by counsel.&nbsp; But the committee noted that you cannot evade the no-contact rule by &ldquo;closing [your] eyes to the obvious.&rdquo;&nbsp; Therefore, said the committee, if you suspect a ghostwritten brief, you have to ask.
If the person &ldquo;indicates that yes, a lawyer drafted documents, but is not providing any other representation,&rdquo; the committee said that suggests that &ldquo;the representation has concluded,&rdquo; and you can talk to the person:&nbsp; &ldquo;On aspects of the matter for which representation has been completed and the lawyer who provided limited-scope services is not expected to reemerge to represent the client, a lawyer may communicate directly with the other person.&rdquo;&nbsp; But if not, and presumably if the situation is ambiguous, you have to reach out to the &ldquo;pro se&rdquo; party&rsquo;s lawyer.
Whose burden?
I agree with commentator&nbsp;<a href="http://faughnanonethics.com/?p=701">Brian Faughn</a>&nbsp;that the opinion is not very helpful in shedding light in this murky area, and the burden (though it is a light one) seems to be put on the wrong participant.&nbsp; Why should the opposing lawyer have to inquire about the scope of the representation?&nbsp; If a litigant makes an informed choice to proceed with a limited-scope representation (and Rule 1.2 indeed calls for informed consent), doesn&rsquo;t&nbsp;that include the possibility that the litigant will have to deal with opposing counsel on his or her own?&nbsp; For purposes of the no-contact rule, shouldn&rsquo;t you be entitled to rely on the fact that no lawyer has entered an appearance on the other side?
ABA formal opinions are advisory, of course, and you should also consider the case law and ethics rules in your own jurisdiction as you attempt to navigate these waters.&nbsp; But this opinion&rsquo;s &ldquo;rule of reason&rdquo; seems somewhat off-base.

core/freeform

Ethics

Legal Ethics, Professional Responsibility and the Business of Law

Pro se parties who are sort of not — can you communicate with them?