professional responsibility, student practice, and the clinical

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GONZAGA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 26:2 litigation consistent with the interests of the client." ' Unnecessary or excessive delay in handling a client's case can adversely affect the client's interests. Even if the delay does not affect substantive or procedural rights, it may cause the client needless anxiety. It may also frustrate the prompt and efficient work of courts or administrative tribunals. Lawyers also have a duty of fairness to the opposing party and counsel 6s and an obligation to respect the rights of third persons.' A lawyer's responsibility to the client does not imply that it is acceptable to unnecessarily embarrass, delay or burden others. Substantial legal reasons may, of course, dictate a course of conduct which does have these effects. But responsible professional conduct should take into account the larger context in which the lawyer operates and the power he or she has over lives of others. 67 Where the clinical teacher believes intervention will expedite resolution of the legal problem and save time, money and anxiety for the client and 64. Id. at Rule 3.2. 65. Id. at Rule 3.4. 66. Id. at Rule 4.4. 67. The clinical teacher who neglects these considerations can endanger the student's professional responsibility growth by showing indifference to standards of professional conduct not directly related to achieving the client's objectives. If clinical teachers are to avoid sending the message that "winning" is the only standard to be valued in our system of justice, it is essential that teabhers as well as students undertake an analysis of their feelings towards professional responsibility-particularly their feelings about the value of caring for and responding to the needs of others. See R. JACK & D. C. JACK, supra note 3; Leleiko, supra note 61, at 656. In 1986, the ABA commission on professionalism issued a report which was approved for distribution, but not adapted formally as ABA policy, by the ABA House of delegates. The report has proved highly influential. Section B(5) of the report states: "The Bar should place increasing emphasis on the role of lawyers as officers of the court, or more broadly, as officers of the system of justice.. . [Lawyers] have a duty to make the system of justice work properly." The ABA House of delegates adopted the ABA Creed of Professionalism in 1988 which states in part: As a lawyer I must strive to make our system of justice work fairly and efficiently . . . I will endeavor to achieve my client's objectives . . . as expeditiously and economically as possible ... I will advise my client against ... insisting on tactics which are intended to delay resolution of the matter or harrass or drain the financial resources of the opposing party . . . I will remember that, in addition to commitment to my client's cause, my responsibilities as a lawyer include a devotion to the public good.
1990/91] STUDENT PRACTICE others, there should be less reluctance to take over primary responsibility for the relevant task. For example, in supervision of a student-conducted deposition, intervention may not be necessary to prevent irreparable harm to the client's cause. But it may be desirable and appropriate to avoid the necessity of having to reconvene the deposition at a later time to ferret out information which the student missed. It may be argued that the clinical teacher will always be in a superior position to expedite litigation and minimize emotional and financial costs to the client and others. The discussion concerning other intervention considerations indicates this is not the case. In any event, this criterion for intervention will necessarily have to be weighed and balanced against those other considerations. The five listed considerations are by no means exclusive. They do, however, encompass values at the core of the clinical teacher's professional responsibility to clients. These can be summarized as follows: 1) Respect for the client's professional relationship with the student and expectations flowing from that relationship; 2) Respect for the client's right to make an informed decision about student representation and its. advantages or disadvantages; 3) Concern for the client reflected by the clinical teacher's ability to adequately diagnose and predict student competencies; 4) Concern for the client reflected by the clinical teacher's personal readiness and competence to assume client representation responsibilities; and 5) Concern for adverse collateral consequences to the client and others which might be avoided through intervention. III. CORE VALUE CRITERIA IN OPERATION I recently supervised a third year law student who conducted the defense of a young man charged with the crime of reckless driving. Conviction of this charge in Washington subjects a defendant to a mandatory loss of license, a fine, and possible time in jail. 68 The client elected a jury trial because of his belief that a judge would be more prone to credit the testimony of the police 68. WASH. REv. CODE § 46.61.500 (1991).
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