Ethically Ambiguous

123

Thanks for joining us! Here's the questions we were talking about: 1. You are a wills and estates lawyer. A couple in their 60s come to you for legal advice. You meet with them together and separately. In a conversation with the wife, she tells you that before getting married, she had a child whom she gave up for adoption. She knows where the child is (the adoption was with a family member) but the child doesn’t know she was adopted. The husband also doesn’t know about the child. Under the relevant code of conduct, you can’t continue to represent the couple unless the wife tells the husband. (Why?) Do you urge the wife to tell? Now assume that whatever you say, the wife decides not to tell. Decide what you will say when you meet with the couple jointly after talking to the wife.