Cornered: Tim Eaton on the Great Responsibilities and Privileges of Practicing Attorneys

In the introduction to Chapter 1 of the IICLE® handbook ATTORNEYS' LEGAL LIABILITY, J. Timothy Eaton identifies this core principle of the profession: "When we enter the legal profession," he writes, "we accept a responsibility to serve not only our clients, but also the larger public." Mr. Eaton draws on a wealth of experience when discussing how attorneys balance these responsibilities, especially in the face of competing interests.

J. Timothy Eaton is Partner at Taft Law in Chicago and is sole author of Chapter 1 of ATTORNEYS' LEGAL LIABILITY, which is titled "The Lawyer as a Professional: How Our Professional Responsibilities Shape Our Practice." ATTORNEYS' LEGAL LIABILITY 2025 edition is available now at IICLE.com.

IICLE® is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit based in Springfield, Illinois. We produce a wide range of practice guidance for Illinois attorneys and other legal professionals in all areas of law with the generous contributions of time and expertise from volunteer attorneys, judges, and other legal professionals.

Chapters

• 0:32 Episode Introduction - Tim Eaton
• 1:44 How do you recommend attorneys identify and handle conflicts that arise?
• 3:48 How do attorneys balance their duties to the court with their responsibilities as client advocates?
• 6:04 How are the fiduciary duties of attorneys distinct from the duties other professionals extend to their clients and colleagues?
• 10:34 Wrapping Up - Thank you, Tim!

Transcript

00:00:01
Oh, you're an attorney. I have a friend who…
00:00:03
I've been meaning to update my will, but I just bought
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A new house.
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I want to start a business….
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So I was wondering, I think we have…
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My brother was fired…
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My friend got divorced a while back. I just don't understand how her ex...
00:00:14
You've been there at a social function, meeting friends of friends. Word gets out that you're an attorney, and suddenly your night is filled with partygoers asking you, quote, UN quote, simple legal questions. The questions are seldom in your area. Some of the stuff you haven't thought about since law school, you're being cornered.
00:00:31
Of.
00:00:32
Court in the cornered out of court podcast from IICLE, you'll hear from fellow attorneys about the questions they get and the responses they give to escape being cornered. In the introduction to chapter one of the IICLE handbook ATTORNEYS’ LEGAL LIABILITY.
00:00:52
Tim Eaton identifies this core principle of the
00:00:55
profession: “When we enter the legal profession,” he writes, “we accept a responsibility to serve not only our clients but also the larger public.” Mr. Eaton draws on a wealth of experience when discussing how attorneys balance these responsibilities, especially in the face of competing interests.
00:01:14
My name is Tim.
00:01:15
Eaton.
00:01:16
I'm a partner in the appellate group with Taft Law in Chicago. I've practiced downstate in Decatur. When I first started my practice, and I've also lived in Belleville cooking for a Supreme Court judge. I've had the pleasure of serving as both President of the Interstate Bar in Chicago Bar and dealt.
00:01:36
A lot with.
00:01:38
Professional issues in those organizations and recommendations for change.
00:01:44
The size of their practice and their practice area can influence the conflicts of interest attorneys and counter. How do you recommend attorneys identify and handle conflicts that arise?
00:01:55
That's a good question, cause conflicts do arise all the time.
00:01:59
As you pointed.
00:02:00
Out in your question, it does make a difference and as to the size of the firm and trying to ascertain conflicts. When I was in a smaller practice, we tended to know who we were serving and who we had served.
00:02:14
And therefore we had no problem in disclosing we didn't have a formal system. I think it behooves all orders to have some sort of system in place to determine conflicts, whether it just be index cards, whether it be something more formal if you're a larger firm because it could result in issues down the road.
00:02:35
If the client is not happy with your services for whatever reason, I'm not saying it's justified.
00:02:40
And but they could claim when you've had a conflict from the beginning, you didn't treat me well by not disclosing that, and therefore I'm not gonna pay you. I mean, that has happened. I've seen it arise in litigation where the court discovers that one of the parties is represented by Council, that it represented.
00:03:01
The other party in that litigation much earlier and then not disclosed it and in that particular the court disqualify that Council would not let that Council charge you any fees for representing declining of the conflict with. So it can be a drastic remedy if you don't look into it. So I think it makes.
00:03:19
Events for everybody right from the beginning, when you are contacted by client to represent them, you need to tell them first. I need to check and see if we have any conflicts you may know off the top of your head, but if you don't, you need to find that out because there could be severe consequences down the road in addition to possibly a RDC.
00:03:41
Disciplinary proceedings if the conflict is serious enough, he knew about it, didn't disclose it and.
00:03:46
The client wasn't served.
00:03:48
Well, the relationships attorneys maintain both with the courts and their clients can result in some sticky situations. How to attorneys balance their duties to the court with their responsibilities as client advocates.
00:04:03
No.
00:04:03
So it's a very good question and you use the word sticky and I totally agree with you. It does get to the point.
00:04:09
Where it presents problems because as an attorney, you owe a duty to the court.
00:04:16
And you're to disclose things that as an officer of the court, you should disclose. But on the other hand, you have a duty to your client and when they come in conflict, you need to do something about it. I've seen some attorneys, the way they handle it. For example, if their client has misrepresented.
00:04:36
Certain facts to you that you forwarded to the court and to opposing counsel, and then you find out that it wasn't true.
00:04:45
Some attorneys seek to withdraw without disclosing to the court. This is what I found out. They simply have said I can no longer represent this client. We have a conflict. Please let me out. Sometimes the judge pursues it and says.
00:05:01
That's not enough. You have to tell me what is the issue. I think under those circumstances, if that does arise, remember you do have an ultimate duty to your client as well. Maybe if you ask, your Honor, can we go into chambers so we can discuss this privately? Confident.
00:05:20
Initially and then the court would know the circumstances and perhaps let you out. But it's a dilemma. You don't want to disclose things as your clients have told you. They can be adverse to their interest to the other side. On the other hand, you can't condone the fact that maybe the client has misrepresented.
00:05:40
To the core and you're doing it to the core, I believe at that point is to withdraw and hope that the client will understand that the next person they hire shouldn't be put in that situation, they need to come clean with the court or with that lawyer. So it it's a difficult issue at times.
00:05:59
And there's there's tension between those conflicting duties.
00:06:04
How are the fiduciary duties of attorneys distinct from the duties other professionals extend to their clients and colleagues?
00:06:14
Duty to our client and because of that and because we are lawyers and professionals and have gone through the rigors of taking the bar exam.
00:06:24
And character and fitness and being regulated by the ARDC.
00:06:29
We do have certain privileges as a result of life fiduciary duty. One of them is the attorney-client privilege, which does not always exist in other professions, so we don't have to disclose what our time client tells us. And that's largely because we have the fiduciary duty to that client and the client needs to be aware at the beginning.
00:06:50
That because of that duty, you are allowed to tell me things that will be kept in confidence and there will be privileged communication.
00:07:00
Also, that duty is over and above a certain like if a person has a duty to be not commit negligent, act on somebody else. We have even a higher duty than just a simple duty not to commit anchors, just we have a higher duty because we're professionals because we are regulated.
00:07:20
And so there are some time.
00:07:22
And when we have to inform the client that because of this ultimate duty, that's why I have to do conflict checks. That's why you if you tell me something that involves future conduct, that's not proper or legal, I may have to disclose that I may have to disclose something to the court of withdraw.
00:07:43
The whole notion of the high fiduciary duty involved in the attorney-client relationship.
00:07:50
Is really the crux of our profession, and the attorney has to inform the client at the beginning. My fiduciary duty is to you and you only. And if it comes in touch with other things, we'll have to sort that out. That will not always be the case in this simple business transaction.
00:08:10
Where no lawyers are involved, there's a duty, but it's not a fiduciary duty like a trustee would have. Like a lawyer has, like a doctor has. There's many different facets to it, but as an attorney, I'm held to a much higher standard.
00:08:27
And how I treat my client and what my client should expected me? Because I'm professional and therefore I have producing due to that client there's any doubt at all as to what you should do in a given situation with there in your client. Keep in mind that you owe them a high fiduciary duty.
00:08:46
The debt should be resolved in their favor. You know, we're a profession, we're regulated. We have to pass certain requirements in order to pay a lawyer, and we have to do more than just beat the bare minimum.
00:09:03
You know, I wrote the introduction to the Echo book on legal malpractice. Professionals have been something more than just the bare duties. So you don't get sued it. It's above that. I mean, you should not just try not to be negligent, but you at every point in time with your client, treat them with the highest respect.
00:09:24
And highest duty because professionalism is about a profession. It's not just about the individual relationship you have with your client and so professionalism is more than just meeting the minimum requirements.
00:09:39
So you're not sued. It's meeting professional requirements. Profession involves. How do you treat one another in the profession? How do you treat other lawyers? Sometimes clients need to be advised just because I'm being friendly or amicable to the other side doesn't mean that.
00:10:00
They're not first and foremost in my mind, but I will professional. I have to treat the cork. I have to treat other lawyers.
00:10:07
As professionals and sometimes clients don't see that, they want to be more of a gladiator and that's not who we are. That's not our profession. So for new lawyers, I think they just have to keep in mind that professional requirements, the code of press responsibility, requires more than just the bare minimum. So you're not sued.
00:10:28
More profession and we have to think about that in everything we do.
00:10:34
Thank you, Tim. Tim Eaton is partner at Taft Law in Chicago and is sole author of Chapter 1 of ATTORNEYS’ LEGAL LIABILITY, which is titled, “The Lawyer as a Professional: How Our Professional Responsibilities Shape Our Practice.” ATTORNEYS’ LEGAL LIABILITY 2025 edition is available now.
00:10:54
at IICLE.com.
00:10:57
If you have an idea for a topic you would like to hear discussed on the IICLE podcast, we welcome your suggestions by e-mail. Our address is info that's I-N-F-O at IICLE.com. IICLE is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit based in Springfield, IL. We produce a wide range of practice guidance for Illinois attorneys and other legal professionals.
00:11:17
In all areas of the law, with the generous contributions of time and expertise from attorneys, judges, and other legal professionals.
00:11:25
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