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Okla. R. Prof'l Conduct 6.2

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Rule 6.2 Accepting Appointments

Public Service

← Previous Rule 6.1: Pro Bono Public Service Next → Rule 6.3: Membership in Legal Services Organization

Rule Text

A lawyer shall not seek to avoid appointment by a tribunal to represent a person except for good cause, such as:

(a) representing the client is likely to result in violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct or other law;

(b) representing the client is likely to result in an unreasonable financial burden on the lawyer; or

(c) the client or the cause is so repugnant to the lawyer as to be likely to impair the client-lawyer relationship or the lawyer's ability to represent the client.

Amendment history: /EM> Adopted effective July 1, 1988.

Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)

This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.

Judges sometimes appoint lawyers to represent people who can't afford one or who need a lawyer for another reason. This rule says a lawyer generally can't turn down that assignment just because they don't want it. Lawyers are expected to take these cases as part of their job.

There are only a few valid reasons a lawyer can refuse an appointment. First, if taking the case would force the lawyer to break ethics rules or other laws. Second, if representing the client would create a financial hardship that's too much to bear. Third, if the lawyer feels so strongly against the client or their case that it would get in the way of doing a good job representing them.

Outside of these situations, lawyers are supposed to accept court appointments even if the case is inconvenient, unpopular, or not something they'd normally choose to handle. This helps make sure everyone who needs a lawyer can get one, even in difficult or unpopular cases.

Committee Notes

[1] A lawyer ordinarily is not obliged to accept a client whose character or cause the lawyer regards as repugnant. The lawyer's freedom to select clients is, however, qualified. All lawyers have a responsibility to assist in providing pro bono publico service. See Rule 6.1. An individual lawyer fulfills this responsibility by accepting a fair share of unpopular matters of indigent or unpopular clients. A lawyer may also be subject to appointment by a court to serve unpopular clients or persons unable to afford legal services.

Appointed Counsel.

[2] For good cause a lawyer may seek to decline an appointment to represent a person who cannot afford to retain counsel or whose cause is unpopular. Good cause exists if the lawyer could not handle the matter competently, see Rule 1.1, or if undertaking the representation would result in an improper conflict of interest, for example, when the client or the cause is so repugnant to the lawyer as to be likely to impair the client-lawyer relationship or the lawyer's ability to represent the client. A lawyer may also seek to decline an appointment if acceptance would be unreasonably burdensome, for example, when it would impose a financial sacrifice so great as to be unjust.

[3] An appointed lawyer has the same obligations to the client as retained counsel, including the obligations of loyalty and confidentiality, and is subject to the same limitations on the client-lawyer relationship, such as the obligation to refrain from assisting the client in violation of the Rules.

Code Comparison

There is no counterpart to Rule 6.2 in the Disciplinary Rules of the Code. EC 2-29 states that "When a lawyer is appointed by a court or requested by a bar association to undertake representation of a person unable to obtain counsel, whether for financial or other reasons, he should not seek to be excused from undertaking the representation except for compelling reason. Compelling reasons do not include such factors as the repugnance of the subject matter of the proceeding, the identity or position of a person involved in the case, the belief of the lawyer that the defendant in a criminal proceeding is guilty, or the belief of the lawyer regarding the merits of the civil case." EC 2-30 states that "a lawyer should decline employment if the intensity of his personal feelings, as distinguished from community attitude may impair his effective representation of a prospective client."

Oklahoma Modification

None.

← Previous Rule 6.1: Pro Bono Public Service Next → Rule 6.3: Membership in Legal Services Organization