“Proposed Changes to Disciplinary Rules May Make it Harder to Withdraw from Cases

The recently proposed changes to the disciplinary rules have modified the enumerated reasons a lawyer can withdraw from representation. Under current rule 1.15 a lawyer is specifically allowed to withdraw if a client fails to pay the lawyer’s fee. Under the proposed rule this specific basis has been removed. Although not in effect yet, this could cause major issues for attorneys who bill for their services on an hourly basis or flat fee. The final version of the proposed rules should be available very soon.