WHAT DOES IT MEASN TO BE A “CLIENT” OF A LAWYER?

Summer vacation was about to end and school would start at the beginning of the next week. The boys knew that this morning would be the last opportunity to meet in the park next to the small lake by the canal that swirled through their small residential community until Christmas. They were good friends and enjoyed spending time together. One was already sitting on a swing waiting for the other to appear. He could see him running across the park and heading for him. As he ran, he yelled “Hi,” and then grabbed the adjoining swing.

As he was climbing on the swing, he said, “Hey,I saw the elderly man. The one that said he was lawyer. Remember?”

“Yeah. I remember him. Last time we talked he told us he had clients in all of our cities. You know like Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, Queen Creek and Apache Junction. He said he would sometimes try cases for them in Phoenix. I sort of understood that he meant that clients were the people who hired him. But he said that sometimes clients weren’t just people. That old guy could always confuse me with the things he said.”

His buddy said, “Well, since he is just sitting there by the pool, why don’t we just go and ask him what clients are?”

The person they were talking about was a retired lawyer living in the assisted living home in their neighborhood. He spent most of his day sitting next to the swimming pool. He glanced up and saw the boys running toward him and knew there would be questions. He enjoyed their eagerness to learn and was anxious to hear their new inquiry. It didn’t take long.

“You told us you had clients. I thought clients were people. But sometimes you said they weren’t. What do you mean?”

The retired lawyer sighed and knew he would be in for a lengthy explanation. They just wouldn’t let him get away with him giving a simple response.

The lawyer sat back and started to explain. He went on for at least ten minutes trying to answer their question. Much to the elderly lawyer’s delight, the boys paid attention. He explained that a lawyer makes his living by servicing his client’s needs. A client is usually a person who retains an attorney to solve his legal problems. Retain means to hire. Most often the service provided to a client is to appear in court on the client’s behalf or to advise, assist and defend him in legal proceedings and act for him in any legal business.

When one of the boys asked, “What do you mean when you said that a client is “usually a person?”

The retired lawyer sat back and searched his memory, returning to law school many decades ago. He explained that the United States Supreme Court, way back in 1886, decided a case called Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific. The lawyer explained as best he could, “In that case, The Supreme Court declared that the protection afforded to persons under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution also applied to corporations, not just human beings.”

He let that sink in for a minute to gauge whether or not the boys understood what he was talking about and how important it was. It appeared that the boys were struggling with the concept. He explained further, “The protection clause of the Constitution requires that every court, every judge, in every state must treat everyone equally under the law. This is supposed to mean that the law will treat anyone who appears in their courtropom, regardless of the amount of money that have, their religion, the color of their skin, or their national origin exactly the same – the law is not supposed to play favorites. That is why the statue representing justice in this country, the one where the lady is holding a scale, shows the scales perfectly balanced while the lady is blindfolded. Justice cannot see the color, the wealth or the status of the people involved in the courtroom. All that matters is how the law applies to the facts in the case. The law decides the outcome, not the people involved. It doesn’t always work out that way, but that is how it should work. Everyone is the same. Why don’t you go back and see if you can find a picture of ‘Lady Justice’ and see what I mean. “Maybe we will.” one of the boys said.

The lawyer went on, “Anyway, the Supreme Court in that Santa Clara case declared that a corporation is a person, not a real person, but a ‘fictional person’ that can sue people, be sued by people, enter contracts, just like a regular human being. And when it goes to court, all the same rules should apply to people and corporations or other entities. A corporation is treated equally under the law for its claims and defenses. Does that make sense to you?”

“Not really, but I will think about it.” one of the boys said.

“OK, now back to clients, and whether or not that client is a person or corporation.” The retired lawyer went on to explain that lawyers use all their skills and experience to represent their clients. To become the client of a lawyer, the person only has to talk to the lawyer about his problem. He doesn’t even have to hire him. For example, the Mississippi Supreme Court in a case called McCreary v. Hooper, 25 Miss. 428 (1853) explained that “clients” included a person (or corporation) that discloses confidential matters to an attorney while seeking professional aid and uses the professional advise or service even without a contract or payment of any kind. Such a person becomes a client. Once they become a “client” the lawyer cannot disclose to anyone anything said by the client. In addition, the lawyer can never represent the other side of the matter.

As a further explanation, the retired lawyer went on to say that if a person paid someone to groom his dog, that person is a client of the dog groomer. Thus the use of the word client isn’t exclusive of a lawyer/client relationship. It applies to anyone that seeks professional services of another. For example, if as person paid someone to groom his dog, that person is a client of the dog groomer.

The old lawyer was getting tired now. He had searched his memory as far back as possible to make an the explanation easy to understand. He asked, “Does that help. Do you understand what we have been talking about?”

The boys replied jointly, giggling, “We think so. But it doesn’t matter, we just like to hear you talk. You got a nice voice.”

The old man sighed, thinking how amazing it was that these two youngsters and he could communicate with each other on various subjects always enjoying each others company and conversation. He was happy that someone appreciated his knowledge and the wisdom he had gathered over so many years. Since he retired no one else seemed to care about his past when he was expected to know everything.