Amendments to Maine Bar Rules
______________
Rule 3.4(a)
Effective July 1, 2004, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court adopted the following important amendment to Rule 3.4(a), which now defines when a lawyer’s representation of a client commences and terminates.
The Rule now provides:
3.4 Identifying Commencement, Continuation, and Termination of Representation
(a) Disclosure of Interest, Commencement, and Termination: General Provisions.
(1) Disclosure of Interest. Before commencing any professional representation,
a lawyer shall disclose to the prospective client any relationship or interest
of the lawyer or of any partner, associate, or affiliated lawyer that might
reasonably give rise to a conflict of interest under these rules. A lawyer has a
continuing duty to disclose to the client any information that, in light of
circumstances arising after the commencement of representation, might reasonably
give rise to such a conflict of interest.
(2) Commencement. Representation of a client shall be deemed to have commenced when the lawyer and the client, by conduct or communication, would each reasonably understand and agree that representation commences. Commencement of representation shall be judged by an objective, not a subjective, standard. It is the obligation of the attorney to clarify whether representation has commenced. If the client reasonably believes that representation has commenced and the attorney has failed to clarify that it has not, then representation shall have commenced.
(3) Termination. Representation of a client shall be deemed terminated upon
the earlier of the following, provided that all conditions and terms of Rule 3.5
have been satisfied:
(i) A date expressly or implicitly stated in an oral or written statement by
the client to the lawyer, terminating the representation;
(ii) A date expressly or implicitly communicated by the lawyer to the client,
orally or in writing, sent to the client at the client’s last known address,
withdrawing from or terminating the representation;or
(iii) The completion of the services which were the subject of the
representation.
Termination of representation does not relieve the lawyer of any obligation of
confidentiality imposed by Rule 3.6(h) or of any other obligation imposed under
these rules to prevent disclosure of information protected by that rule.