Running CLEAN or RIDIN DIRTY - the reality of asking your attorney about doing something shady

One of the difficult conversations to have with people as an attorney is getting them to understand the consequences of their actions. When people hire an attorney, they often think the attorney will show them ‘legal ways’ to get over or get away with something.

Attorneys are bound by both ethical guidelines (ethical rules) and legal responsibility (legal malpractice). As such, they have to be very careful in the advice they provide.

Also, attorneys have an ethical duty to keep you informed. And part of that ethical duty is help you understand the consequences of your actions if you are trying to

“RUN CLEAN”

“RIDE DIRTY”!

Now, for those of you who are confused by the phrase “RUN CLEAN or RIDE DIRTY”, here is what I mean.

At some point, when I say “RUN CLEAN”, you may be faced with a situation where taking a particular course of action is advisable (from a legal standpoint) but not beneficial (from your standpoint).

However, when I say “RIDE DIRTY”, the other course of action may be beneficial (to you) but not advisable (from a legal standpoint).

So, what happens is the attorney will explain the consequences of your actions if you take either course of action. This conversation typically operates under the assumption that you have not taken any course of action and you are trying to weigh all of your options before you make a decision.

Now, the difficult reality is that, depending on the course of action you select, there are some situations which require your attorney to take SPECIFIC action that you may or may not like. And the action they take may have nothing to do with whether they like you or they are representing you. Depending on the situation, the action your attorney takes may be dictated by either their Bar Ethical rules (which protects their license), Insurance liability rules (which protects them from being sued by you), Statutory rules (something covered by law) or Criminal rules (to keep them from going to jail).

Either way, when you are asking your attorney for the full scope of ‘possibilities’ if you choose to ‘RUN CLEAN’ or “RIDE DIRTY”, make sure you are prepared for all possibilities regardless of whether you like the answers or not.

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