Ethical Issues in the Pelican Brief

In the hit book, The Pelican Brief, John Grishams depiction of lawyers who will do everything for money and their leaf nodes presents an interesting honourable dilemma. In the book, two Supreme motor hotel skillfulices argon killed by a hired assassin, Khamel. FBI, CIA, and the press are working(a) hard to find who the killer is. The only the great unwashed who know the integrity are lawyers from blanched and Blazevich, Nathaniel Jones (also known as wiz), Jarreld Schwabe, Marty Velmano, and F. Sims Wakefield and their knob, master key Mattiece.The action commences when Darby Shaw writes a brief about(predicate) who she thinks is responsible for the deaths of two Supreme beg Justices, Rosenberg and Jensen. She shows the scroll to Thomas Callahan, her professor and lover. He hands the brief over to his garter Gavin Verheek, he is special council of the FBI Director. Thats the way the Pelican Brief goes the round through the FBI, the CIA and of runway the sporting House . The chair now has to restructure the Court be driveway of Rosenberg and Jensens death. That is Victor Mattieces aim.He knows that the president will chose conservative justices who will vote for Mattieces aimsof gaining the oil in Louisiana. Mattiece also be throw ins aware of the Pelican Brief and decides to kill invariablyyone who is involved in it to detainment hisplanssecret. He hires the killer Khamel to murder Darby Shaw and Thomas Callahan. The story develops as Victor Mattiece, as well as, vacuous and Blazevich firm attempt through each illegal or unethical measures to hire someone to kill anyone who knows about the brief and could jeopardize their plans.It is a book, so it all ends up more-or-less happily-ever-after for the adolescent girl and Grantham, the journalist, who meet on the island of St. Thomas after exposure of clean and Blazevich and Victor Mattiece. Grantham helps Darby Shaw by publishing a story revealing social occasion of White and Blazevich and V ictor Mattiece in the death of the two Supreme Court Justices. However, for attorneys of White and Blazevich, one must pause and wonder what their fate, superiorly disqui mouldion at least, would be after their lie exposes. For these attorneys commit a look of professional ethics iolations, all in an effort to bond money. From the commencement exercise of their professional relationship with Victor Mattiece the Supreme Court Judges attorneys head trip over ethics. Sims Advise client, research is comp permite and the bench will sit much softer if Rosenberg is retiredEinstein found a link to Jensen, of all peopleAdvise further that the pelican should arrive here in four geezerhood (Grisham 340). This memorandum nonifies F. Sims Wakefield, one of the partners supervising Mattieces possibility, who had no other(a) clients. And no one client had as much to gain from a newly Court as Mattiece (Grisham 341).This is an unethical practice of law where attorneys help their clie nt plan a murder to financially benefit them and their client. champion doable solution for this ethical dilemma could be refusal to help Victor Mattiece in finding out which Supreme Court Judges could be killed. Attorneys from White and Blazevich should think about the consequences of their actions. Better yet, Sims could make a complaint to allot authorities about receiving a memo from Einstein and at least free himself and other attorneys, while Mattiece and Einstein would go to jail.The earnings concordance between the firm and Mattiece also poses an ethical problem Mattiece was non salaried White and Blazevich its trite hourly assessthe firm has taken the case for a pctage of the harvest (Grisham 339). Rule 1. 5(b) of the American Bar ties Model Rules of Professional Conduct states, the basis or rate of the fee shall be communicated to the client, preferably in writing, before or within a reasonable time after commencing the representation (Miller and Urisko 69). Coll ecting the fee up front is certainly consistent with the practices of many practical and ethical lawyers.Unless there is a written fee agreement, and there is certainly no evidence to support the existence of one in the book, funds paid by a client at the beginning of the representation are presumed to be an advance fee payment. Advance fees, of course, must be deposited into a trust account, and withdrawn only when earned. Retainers arent usually ten percent of the net profits from the wells, and real lawyers must know the requirement (Grisham 339). One of the solutions to this ethical dilemma could be to sign a retainer. If White and Blazevich attorneys call for money, why require?Let Mattiece sign a retainer, pay them, and wait for Courts finis. Nathaniel Jones (also known as Einstein), Jarreld Schwabe, Marty Velmano, and F. Sims Wakefield are all relying on being paid for their run after the decision on the case. They could scavenge a lot of money and avoid jail if they wo uld follow standard Model Rules. Just because F. Sims Wakefield was very close to Victor Mattiece and often visited him in the Bahamas, it is non an exception to conflict-of-interest situations. Even if Victor Mattiece is a friend of F.Sims Wakefield, he should pay for services rendered, or the attorney could refuse to provide services knowing that there could be a conflict-of-interest. The most serious of White and Blazevich attorneys professional ethics dilemmas is one that few lawyers ever face. In the book, the attorneys do not tell anyone about Mattieces plan to execute the two Supreme Court Judges. The Model Rules state that an attorney is allowed to reveal a clients information to prevent slightly certain death or substantial bodily harm (Miller and Urisko 99). Attorneys decision to hide Mattieces plan is good for a book, but is it professional?This is unethical. Instead of following on with Mattieces plan to find a way to win his case in the Supreme Court of the linked S tates, the attorneys could refuse to assist him in his killings plan. If Mattieces threat to kill does not seem to result in certain death or cause serious bodily injury, White and Blazevich they could continue representing the client without revealing any confidential information and not jeopardizing their careers. Another ethical dilemma that White and Blazevich firm faces actually leads to their indictment later, involves confidentiality agreement between the client and the firm.A shoot down or a document sitting on your desk, if observed by a third party, may reveal an identity element of a client or enough information to suggest the clients identity (Miller and Urisko 102). If there is no disruption on Wakefields desk and secretaries are not in and out every second, Curtis Morgan, who finds the compromising memo, would not take the memo by accident. Finally, after waiting fifteen minutes, Morgan picked up his files and documents from Wakefields clutter desk, and leftas he re ached for a file, he found a handwritten memo on the bottom of the stack of documents he had just brought to his office.He had inadvertently taken it from Wakefields desk (Grisham 340). This ethical dilemma could be avoided if Wakefield would not let secretaries go through his office back and forth, or let anyone put folders, files, or documents on his desk while there are other notes or documents there. If Wakefield is on the phone, he should let everyone know not to devil him. If someone comes into his office to ask to review something, he should tell them to come back. Dont let that person mix his files with the files that he has on his desk. Unluckily for attorneys and client, lies reveal at the end of the book.Indeed, as the book wraps up, Velmano, Schwabe, and Einstein get indicted. Wakefield commits suicide and Mattiece also gets indicted. However, they do not get such punishment without being responsible for the killing of innocent people along the way. They go through all this trouble just so that they would get financial reward. Too bad for them, their plan fails.Works Cited Grisham, John. The Pelican Brief. New York Doubleday, 1992. Print. Miller, Roger LeRoy. , and Mary S. Urisko. legal assistant Today The Essentials. Clifton Park, NY Delmar Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.