Loyalty in Limbo: The Peculiar Case of Attorneys’ Loyalty to Clients

Abstract

Loyalty to clients, a cornerstone of the attorney-client relationship, is in limbo. The Bar advocates a client-centered broad interpretation of loyalty, critics call for a narrow approach tempered by duties to non-clients, and consequently disagreement regarding the meaning and scope of loyalty abounds. This Article studies the competing definitions of attorney loyalty to clients and explores their respective justifications. It advocates a middle-ground understanding of loyalty grounded in serving clients and constrained not by duties to third-parties or abstract open-ended obligations, but rather by specific rules derived from the roles of lawyers as officers of the legal system and public citizens.