Representing Clients with Diminished Capacity: Applying and Teaching Rule of Professional Conduct 1.14

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Hotel: N/A

Room: Union Square 1&2

Floor: 4th Floor

All lawyers who represent individual clients, no matter the practice area, may represent clients with diminished capacity. Further, clinicians who represent people in guardianship proceedings or other matters that implicate disability—which can arise in disability law, special education law, elder law, general civil, criminal, juvenile justice, and other kinds of clinics—must grapple with the complexities of determining who the client is and who should guide the lawyer’s actions in the case or matter and how to teach and supervise students around these challenging topics.
Our goal is that attendees understand the relevant considerations when representing a client with diminished capacity and leave the panel with the materials and knowledge they need to incorporate these considerations into their clinic seminars and/or supervision. By the end of our workshop, participants will be able to:
• Identify the relevant considerations when working with a client with diminished capacity
• Apply Model Rule 1.14 to common representation arrangements
• Consider how lawyers- and the law students we supervise- can work to promote and maximize the capacity of our clients to engage in the attorney-client relationship
• Use strategies discussed in the workshop for teaching and supervising around these issues