Some people ask this question because they believe an attorney is somehow obligated to accept any and every case he/she is asked to accept. This is not true.
Some people believe that anyone in any case has a right to having an attorney appointed to represent him/her. Not true.
This erroneous belief may derive from people hearing about and seeing courts order attorneys to represent criminal defendants. But this is an exceptional situation. When a criminal defendant in a case in which he/she faces the possibility of imprisonment cannot afford an attorney, a court can appoint a criminal defense attorney to represent an indigent defendant. This is not true of every kind of lawsuit.
Lawyers generally have a choice as to whether they will represent a potential client. The most likely and common reasons why attorneys won’t represent a client are (in no particular order):
- conflict of interest. A conflict of interest arises when the lawyer is in a position to derive an unfair advantage over the opposing party, such as having represented the opposing party in the past, or owning stock in the opposing party’s company, or the lawyer’s spouse works for the opposing party—things that would cause people to question the lawyer’s loyalty to the potential new client or to previous clients.
- potential client can’t afford (or does not want to pay) what the lawyer charges for the representation and work the case requires.
- lawyer is not competent to take on the particular kind of case. Not every lawyer is competent to handle every kind of lawsuit or legal services need.
- the case requires more time and effort than the lawyer has available in his/her schedule.
- the case has no merit, so it would be a violation of the lawyer’s oath to litigate a case that he/she believes has no merit just to make money and/or to harass the opposing party.
- personality conflict between potential client and the lawyer.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277
https://www.quora.com/Why-would-a-lawyer-not-take-a-case/answer/Eric-Johnson-311?prompt_topic_bio=1
