Recognizing Ethical Duties of Parents’ Lawyers to Children of Clients: Being a Child-Focused Family Lawyer
23 Pages Posted: 24 Feb 2017
Date Written: February 16, 2017
Abstract
Lawyers for parents in family cases have ethical duties not only to their clients and the administration of justice, but also to ensure that the interests of the children of their adult clients are appropriately taken into account. The duties of family lawyers towards children, however, are indirect, and arise primarily because parents themselves have fiduciary duties to their children, and lawyers are mainly to be giving effect to their duties to children by providing information, counsel, education and support to help their adult clients focus on the needs of their children. These duties include ensuring that the child’s views are ascertained in an objective, sensitive fashion, and shared with parents and decision-makers. Although complex and situational, one might summarize the duties of the family lawyer in this regard as “helping their clients to be good parents.” Duties towards children must always be balanced against counsel’s obligations to take instructions from their clients. The paper particularly focuses on the ethical duties of family lawyers in Canada, which are based on the Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the Divorce Act.
Keywords: Legal Ethics, Family Law, ethics, Family Lawyers, ethics, Family Lawyers, ethical duties to children, views of children
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