Colo. RPC 2.1

History

Source: Entire Appendix repealed and readopted April 12, 2007, effective January 1, 2008; Comment [2] amended, effective December 1, 2016. COMMENT Scope of Advice [1] A client is entitled to straightforward advice expressing the lawyer’s honest assess- ment. Legal advice often involves unpleasant facts and alternatives that a client may be disin- clined to confront. In presenting advice, a law- yer endeavors to sustain the client’s morale and may put advice in as acceptable a form as hon- esty permits. However, a lawyer should not be deterred from giving candid advice by the pros- pect that the advice will be unpalatable to the client. [2] Advice couched in narrow legal terms may be of little value to a client, especially where practical considerations, such as cost or effects on other people, are predominant. Purely technical legal advice, therefore, can sometimes be inadequate. In a matter involving the alloca- tion of parental rights and responsibilities, a lawyer should consider advising the client that parental conflict can have a significant adverse effect on minor children. It is proper for a law- yer to refer to relevant moral and ethical con- siderations in giving advice. Although a lawyer is not a moral advisor as such, moral and ethical considerations impinge upon most legal ques- tions and may decisively influence how the law will be applied. [3] A client may expressly or impliedly ask the lawyer for purely technical advice. When such a request is made by a client experienced in legal matters, the lawyer may accept it at face value. When such a request is made by a client inexperienced in legal matters, however, the lawyer’s responsibility as advisor may include indicating that more may be involved than strictly legal considerations. [4] Matters that go beyond strictly legal questions may also be in the domain of another profession. Family matters can involve prob- lems within the professional competence of psychiatry, clinical psychology or social work; business matters can involve problems within the competence of the accounting profession or of financial specialists. Where consultation with a professional in another field is itself some- thing a competent lawyer would recommend, the lawyer should make such a recommenda- tion. At the same time, a lawyer’s advice at its best often consists of recommending a course of action in the face of conflicting recommenda- tions of experts. Offering Advice [5] In general, a lawyer is not expected to give advice until asked by the client. However, when a lawyer knows that a client proposes a course of action that is likely to result in sub- stantial adverse legal consequences to the cli- ent, the lawyer’s duty to the client under Rule 1.4 may require that the lawyer offer advice if the client’s course of action is related to the representation. Similarly, when a matter is likely to involve litigation, it may be necessary under Rule 1.4 to inform the client of forms of dispute resolution that might constitute reason- able alternatives to litigation. A lawyer ordinar- ily has no duty to initiate investigation of a client’s affairs or to give advice that the client has indicated is unwanted, but a lawyer may initiate advice to a client when doing so appears to be in the client’s interest. ANNOTATION Law reviews. For article, ‘‘Online Dispute Resolution-A Digital Door to Justice or Pandora’s Box? Part 3’’, 49 Colo. Law. 26 (Apr. 2020). Annotator’s note. The following annotations include cases decided under former C.R.C.P. 201.1, which was similar to this rule. District courts are without subject matter jurisdiction to entertain challenges to the appli- cation and enforcement of rules governing ad- mission to the bar. Smith v. Mullarkey, 121 P.3d 890 (Colo. 2005).