Opinion 1741

Your inquiry involved the ethical obligations of legal service lawyers to preserve a client's right to attorney's fees under fee shifting statutes. The RPC Committee's response to your inquiry is that the [the legal services agency] may condition representation of the client on waiver or relinquishment of State or Federal claims for attorney's fees if, and only if, in the reasonable opinion of the lawyer, such waiver or relinquishment will not effectively preclude the lawyer from providing competent representation, the lawyer has consulted with the client about the limitations of representation and has obtained written consent to that representation. If the opinion of the lawyer is to the contrary or consent is not obtained, [the legal services agency] must decline representation of the client.

If in the opinion of the lawyer the representation can proceed, consent is obtained and the correct interpretation of the Legal Services Corporation Act (Act) allows [the legal services agency], in the course of representation, to identify, protect, and preserve the claim for fees then such claims must be so identified, preserved and protected. The Committee gives no opinion here as to whether or not the Act in fact allows such conduct.

Advisory Opinions are provided for the education of the Bar and reflect the opinion of the Committee on Professional Ethics (CPE) or its predecessors. Advisory Opinions are provided pursuant to the authorization granted by the Board of Governors, but are not individually approved by the Board and do not reflect the official position of the Bar association. Laws other than the Washington State Rules of Professional Conduct may apply to the inquiry. The Committee's answer does not include or opine about any other applicable law other than the meaning of the Rules of Professional Conduct.