We received this comment and removed the attorney's name and decided to post this on the blog as a post.
Of course it's unethical. Attorneys cannot solicit business in this matter. Plus it violates the code of the shark to work for reduced rates. Of course, as thousands of defendants serving lengthy prison sentences can attest to, you get what you pay for.
Dear Rumpole,
I am curious as to whether you will post this question and, more importantly, your opinion on the practice.
I have had several clients over the past year or so tell me that XYZ ESQ has been sending his associates unsolicited to visit clients in the jails to get hired. Most of these inmates are represented by the PD's office and are handed a stack of XYZ ESQ business cards to pass around to other inmates. The clients tell me that XYZ ESQ offers to represent inmates for very reduced rates if they recruit other clients for his firm. He asks them for a list of all PD clients in their cell and then they go and visit them to do the same thing. Many of my clients (more than five) have independently told me this over the past year and have been recruited by these inmates. And one of my clients was actually visited by one of his associates recently and asked to switch firms.
I am curious as to whether you will post this question and, more importantly, your opinion on the practice.
I have had several clients over the past year or so tell me that XYZ ESQ has been sending his associates unsolicited to visit clients in the jails to get hired. Most of these inmates are represented by the PD's office and are handed a stack of XYZ ESQ business cards to pass around to other inmates. The clients tell me that XYZ ESQ offers to represent inmates for very reduced rates if they recruit other clients for his firm. He asks them for a list of all PD clients in their cell and then they go and visit them to do the same thing. Many of my clients (more than five) have independently told me this over the past year and have been recruited by these inmates. And one of my clients was actually visited by one of his associates recently and asked to switch firms.
Do you think it is legal/ethical to send associates unsolicited to the jails to attempt to get PD clients to hire him?
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