Rule 907 Minimum Duties and Responsibilities of Attorneys for Minor Children

Special Supreme Court Committee on Child Custody Issues Rule 907 establishes minimum standards of practice for attorneys who represent children. Paragraph (a) sets out the responsibility of an attorney representing a child in any capacity to act in accordance with the rules of ethics and avoid conflicts of interest. Paragraphs (b) and (c) provide guidance on the attorney’s essential duty of investigation: the duty to determine the child’s circumstances and the family’s needs. In aid of this duty, the rule provides specifically that an attorney has the right to interview a child client without limitation or impediment. Paragraph (b) also provides that the trial court shall enter an order allowing the child representative, attorney for the child or guardian ad litem access to all relevant documents. Paragraph (d) addresses advocacy. The attorney for a child is required to make appropriate recommendations to the parties, seek resolution by agreement where it is in the best interests of the child, and seek relief on behalf of the child in court, when needed. The Special Committee is aware that the American Bar Association and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws have taken the position that there should be three distinct types of appointments: (1) a child’s attorney, who provides independent legal counsel in the same manner as to an adult client; (2) a “best interest attorney,” such as Illinois’ child representatives, who provide independent legal services for the child’s best interests but who does not make general “recommendations”; (3) a guardian ad litem, who gathers information for the court and helps identify other needed services for the child or family. In its Standards of Practice for Attorneys Representing Children in Custody Cases, the ABA recommended that attorneys not serve as GALs unless they do so as would a non-lawyer. However, the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act mandates that GALs appointed under the Act be attorneys and that they may actually act in loco parentis for the child. See 750 ILCS 5/506. It is the position of the Special Committee that none of these concerns require changes in the language of Rule 907 or any other rule.