Be extremely cautious! Are you and the client "family" or "enemies"?
The highly anticipated tenth lecture of the 2022 Zhiming Law Firm series is starting right on time today. The theme of this Zhiming lawyer's presentation is "The Relationship Between Lawyers and Their Clients," and the classic case analysis is "Xie's Extramarital Affair Brings Trouble, Lawyer's Rescue Met with Betrayal." The online audience reached over a thousand listeners.
Speaking of the relationship between lawyers and clients, Zhiming Lawyer summed it up in one sentence: "It can be like 'family', or it can be like 'enemies'." Zhiming Lawyer listed three different scenarios: first, the lawyer is dedicated and responsible, and the client respects and thanks them; second, the lawyer is still dedicated and responsible, but the client burns bridges, or even turns on them; third, the lawyer is morally corrupt and incompetent, or even cheats and swindles their own client. Since the third type of lawyer is inherently of poor character, they do not fall within the scope of upright lawyers, so Zhiming Lawyer mainly warns everyone how to prevent the second scenario from happening.
At this point, Lawyer Zhiming shared a classic case he had personally experienced. Xie, a public official, had an extramarital affair that got his mistress pregnant. She threatened that if he did not pay 9 million in child support, she would make sure he lost his job. Xie panicked and said he was willing to pay 900,000 in legal fees just to get through it smoothly. Lawyer Zhiming had years of accumulated experience in handling cases, and under his resolution, this minor matter was settled in less than half a month. Yet at this point, Xie actually felt the legal fees were too high and wanted to renege. Lawyer Wang used his self-created literary rights-protection litigation approach and, combining factors of emotion, reason, and law, wrote a letter to Xie. As soon as Xie read it, he understood that if he kept trying to renege, he would only lose more by being petty, so he had no choice but to retreat in the face of difficulty.
In conclusion, Lawyer Zhiming emphasized that as upright lawyers, we must be especially vigilant during our practice against certain clients of poor moral character who kneel and weep when seeking help, but once aided, lose all conscience and turn against us as enemies. While we righteously defend our clients' rights in accordance with the law, we must keep our minds sharply discerning and remain constantly on guard, so that doing good does not bring harm to ourselves.
