$150. THE RESULT OF A FURTHER BROADENING OF THE LAWYER'S DUTIES. A broadening of the lawyer's activities should mean a greater prosperity alike to the profession and to the community. Future captains of industry are doubtless to be recruited from the great numbers of lawyers now being educated in the United States. One of the necessary qualifications of a manager of a business enterprise will doubtless be that he be a lawyer, or have received a legal education equivalent to a law-school training. The broadening of a lawyer's activities would result in a separation of the profession into three general classes, instead of two, as formerly. First, the practitioner actively engaged in the courts; second, the office lawyer whose practice is chiefly advisory; third, the lawyer who enters business as an out-and-out business man. Whether the newly admitted lawyer would enter one or the other of these three classes would of course depend upon his natural aptitude for one or the other. If he failed in the first two, the alternative of business would still remain. There have been conspicuous instances of lawyers who failed as advocates, but later entered business life and became extremely wealthy. § 151. SUMMARY OF CHAPTER. The increase in the number of lawyers raises the question whether the profession is to become overcrowded. The scope of a lawyer's duties have gradually broadened. The lawyer who acts as confidential adviser to large business enterprises is becoming a more and more important member of the profession. Business is becoming more complex and hazardous. The railroads have opened up greater markets to the manufacturer and producer. Giant corporations are gradually gaining monopolies of the various fields of business activity. These corporations are, in many instances, abusing their power. Independent dealers who are skilled in the law and can fight the trusts successfully are becoming necessary as safeguards against the trusts. Lawyers are therefore needed in business, and a large percentage of them are likely to enter business in the near future, thus disposing of the overflow of lawyers, if such should occur, and extending anew the field of a lawyer's activities. CHAPTER XVI LIABILITIES OF A LAWYER TO HIS CLIENT SEC. 152. Liability for Disregarding Instructions or Exceeding Authority. SEC. 153. Liability for Failure to Exercise Reasonable Care SEC. 157. Negligence in Drawing Legal Documents. SEC. 158. Liability for Money Collected on Client's Account. § 152. LIABILITY FOR DISREGARDING INSTRUCTIONS OR EXCEEDING AUTHORITY. In all matters except those of a professional nature, the lawyer is under an obligation to obey his client's instructions so long as the relation of attorney and client continues to exist. If the client authorizes the lawyer to settle a case for a stated sum and the lawyer settles for a different sum, the client would ordinarily be bound by the transaction and should therefore have a right of action for damages against the offending attorney. ILLUSTRATIONS. (a) In a case where an attorney without the authority of his client enters a satisfaction of judgment without full payment having been made, the court held that the lawyer was liable in damages for the loss of the balance of the claim.1 (b) A client who lived outside the State sent a note to a lawyer for collection with a request that immediate attachment of maker's property be made. The amount involved was comparatively small. Willard, the maker of the note, was doing an apparently extensive business. The lawyer saw him and was assured that the note would be paid upon presentation. On March 15 the lawyer wrote to his client informing him of the promise and requesting the forwarding of the note. The note was sent and duly received. No new instructions were given. After several attempts to induce Willard to pay, the lawyer on May 2 issued a writ of attachment against his property. But Willard made new promises, and the writ was not served. On June 15 Willard was arrested for debt, and many attachments were filed by various creditors. The plaintiff failed to recover upon the note and brought suit against his lawyer for the damages sustained. The court held that the defendant was liable, and based its decision upon 1 Cox v. Livingston, 2 Watts & Sargeant, 103, 37 American Decisions, 486. the following rule of law: "Whenever an attorney disobeys the lawful instructions of his client, and a loss ensues, the attorney is responsible." 1 1 (c) The attorney would also be liable to his client if, through his neglect to bring suit when requested, the debtor evades the debt by operation of the Statute of Limitations, or by insolvency, or avoids service by leaving the jurisdiction." § 153. LIABILITY FOR FAILURE TO EXERCISE REASONABLE CARE AND SKILL. Every lawyer impliedly guarantees to his clients that he possess at least the average degree of skill and learning in his profession. He impliedly undertakes to exercise reasonable care and diligence in applying his skill or learning in the client's behalf. Failure so to do will subject the lawyer to an action for damages to the extent of his client's injuries. But it is to be borne in mind that the lawyer does not guarantee infallibility. He will make mistakes occasionally, but, unless a mistake is due to negligence or want of ordinary skill and learning, no liability arises. He is judged by the standard of the ordinary man in his position in life. The lawyer who claims to be a specialist in corporation law should be judged by a higher stand 1 Gilbert v. Williams, 8 Massachusetts, 51, 5 American Decisions, 77. 2 People v. Cole, 84 Illinois, 327. |