Abstract
Canon 2 of the American Bar Association's Code of Professional Responsibility staes: "A Lawyer Should Assist the Legal Profession in Fulfilling Its Duty to Make Legal Counsel Available." However, does this duty to make legal counsel available include a duty to help the layman recognize what his problems are? If so, then how may an attorney ethically discharge this duty, and what will be the ramifications when an attorney attempts to discharge it? Many attorneys as well as laymen may be surprised to know that an attorney is ethically bound to assist laymen to recognize their legal problems. An immense problem in our legal system today is that people just do not know that they have legal problems. Some are rudely awakened when informed that they are a party defendant to a lawsuit. Others when presented with a legal problem of less glar- ing dimensions never become aware that a problem existed. These poor souls take their unexercised rights and privileges to their graves, to be buried and forgotten.
Recommended Citation
Note, Ethical Problems and Considerations Arising from the Legal Profession's Duty to Assist Laymen to Recognize Legal Problems, 22 Clev. St. L. Rev. 502 (1973)