Nature of lawyer-client relationship
Lawyer-client relationship is a relationship that has at least three natures. Firstly, the relationship is contractual in that it is a product of contract whereby a client seeks the services of a lawyer in exchange for payment of professional fees. Thus, the contractual relationship is governed by established principles of Contract Law. Secondly, the relationship is fiduciary in that the lawyer stands in a position of trust when dealing with his or her client; and the client relies on the lawyer for reliable legal advice to guide the client’s decisions. The Rules of Professional Conduct mandates that the lawyer act professionally at all times, avoiding conflict of interest, and advances, to the best of his or her ability, the cause of the client. The lawyer is expected to maintain lawyer-client privilege by treating the client’s information in strict confidence. Thirdly, lawyer-client relationship may also translate to an agency relationship – the lawyer as the agent of his or her client, the principal. The law is that acts of a lawyer on behalf of the client are the same as the acts of the client. In many cases, lawyers enjoy express power of attorney to deal with some specific instruction as seen in the case discussed later in this piece.
Terminating your lawyer’s instruction
Every client reserves the right to terminate a lawyer’s instruction and the contract of engagement at any time, subject to the terms of the contract and meeting with every outstanding obligation, especially as it relates to payment of professional fees. Steps involved in terminating a lawyer’s instruction (after thorough consideration of relevant factors) include officially serving the notice of termination (which may be by simple letter) communicating the decision of the client to disengage the lawyer. Other prior steps include ensuring that the termination is not ill-timed. More so, additional costs of engaging another lawyer, if necessary, must be considered as the erstwhile lawyer is not obliged to refund fees already earned.
Ordinarily, serving the notice of termination is all that is required as the client may opt to instruct another lawyer or proceed further as the client deems fit.
Nevertheless, in certain circumstances (as we shall soon see), there may be need to notify third parties of the client’s decision to terminate the lawyer’s engagement. In doing this, all that is required is a simple notice informing the third party of nothing other than that the lawyer has been disengaged and that the lawyer no longer acts for the client. In deserving cases, instruct the incoming lawyer to write directly or to draft same on your behalf.
If the client feels seriously offended by the lawyer, necessitating the termination, the client has a number of options including instituting an action against the lawyer or submitting a petition against the lawyer at the Nigerian Bar Association for onward prosecution by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee.
Making any careless statement or unsubstantiated claims when communicating with third parties regarding the termination of the lawyer may expose one to heavy liability. This is one mistake a client must never make. The case of Omon & Ors v. Ekpa [2019] 15 NWLR (Pt. 1696) 504 presents an interesting scenario.
Read more: https://stephenlegal.ng/sacking-your-lawyer-costly-mistake-you-should-never-make/
