Ethical Issues in the Pelican Brief

In the hit book, The Pelican Brief, John Grishams depiction of lawyers who will do anything for money and their thickenings presents an interesting honourable dilemma. In the book, 2 Supreme administration justices are killed by a hired assassin, Khamel. FBI, CIA, and the press are working seriously to find who the killer is. The only people who know the truth are attorneys from snow-covered and Blazevich, Nathaniel Jones (also known as Einstein), Jarreld Schwabe, Marty Velmano, and F. Sims Wakefield and their guest, maestro Mattiece.The action commences when Darby Shaw writes a brief ab kayoed who she thinks is responsible for the devastations of two Supreme Court Justices, Rosenberg and Jensen. She shows the chronicle to Thomas Callahan, her professor and lover. He hands the brief over to his friend Gavin Verheek, he is special council of the FBI Director. Thats the stylus the Pelican Brief goes the round through the FBI, the CIA and of course the snow-covered House. Th e president now has to restructure the Court be go of Rosenberg and Jensens death. That is Victor Mattieces aim.He knows that the president will chose conservative justices who will vote for Mattiecesplansof gaining the oil in Louisiana. Mattiece also becomes sensible of the Pelican Brief and decides to kill everyone who is involved in it to keep hisplanssecret. He hires the killer Khamel to murder Darby Shaw and Thomas Callahan. The tier develops as Victor Mattiece, as well as, White and Blazevich firm attempt through either unlawful or unethical measures to hire someone to kill anyone who knows about the brief and could jeopardize their plans.It is a book, so it all ends up more-or-less happily-ever-after for the young girl and Grantham, the journalist, who meet on the island of St. Thomas after exposure of White and Blazevich and Victor Mattiece. Grantham helps Darby Shaw by publishing a story revealing involvement of White and Blazevich and Victor Mattiece in the death of the two Supreme Court Justices. However, for attorneys of White and Blazevich, one must pause and wonder what their fate, professionally speaking at least, would be after their lie exposes. For these attorneys commit a number of professional moral philosophy iolations, all in an effort to get money. From the outset of their professional relationship with Victor Mattiece the Supreme Court Judges attorneys trip over ethics. Sims Advise client, research is complete and the bench will sit oftentimes softer if Rosenberg is retiredEinstein found a link to Jensen, of all peopleAdvise further that the pelican should arrive hither in four years (Grisham 340). This memo nonifies F. Sims Wakefield, one of the partners supervising Mattieces baptistry, who had no other clients. And no one client had as much to gain from a new Court as Mattiece (Grisham 341).This is an unethical practice of law where attorneys help their client plan a murder to financially benefit them and their client. matc hless possible solution for this ethical dilemma could be refusal to help Victor Mattiece in finding out which Supreme Court Judges could be killed. Attorneys from White and Blazevich should think about the consequences of their actions. Better yet, Sims could make a complaint to appropriate authorities about receiving a memo from Einstein and at least apologize himself and other attorneys, while Mattiece and Einstein would go to throw out.The fee agreement between the firm and Mattiece also poses an ethical problem Mattiece was not dedicateing White and Blazevich its standard hourly ratethe firm has taken the case for a per centumage of the harvest (Grisham 339). Rule 1. 5(b) of the American Bar Associations Model Rules of overlord Conduct offers, the basis or rate of the fee shall be communicated to the client, preferably in writing, before or within a reasonable time after commencing the representation (Miller and Urisko 69). Collecting the fee up attend is certainly consi stent with the practices of many practical and ethical lawyers.Unless thither is a written fee agreement, and there is certainly no evidence to support the existence of one in the book, funds paying by a client at the beginning of the representation are presumed to be an advance fee payment. go on fees, of course, must be deposited into a trust account, and withdrawn only when earned. Retainers arent usually ten percent of the net profits from the wells, and real lawyers must know the requirement (Grisham 339). One of the solutions to this ethical dilemma could be to sign a retainer. If White and Blazevich attorneys want money, why wait?Let Mattiece sign a retainer, pay them, and wait for Courts decision. Nathaniel Jones (also known as Einstein), Jarreld Schwabe, Marty Velmano, and F. Sims Wakefield are all relying on being paid for their services after the decision on the case. They could save a lot of money and avoid jail if they would follow standard Model Rules. Just because F . Sims Wakefield was very close to Victor Mattiece and often visited him in the Bahamas, it is not an exception to conflict-of-interest situations. Even if Victor Mattiece is a friend of F.Sims Wakefield, he should pay for services rendered, or the attorney could refuse to provide services knowing that there could be a conflict-of-interest. The most serious of White and Blazevich attorneys professional ethics dilemmas is one that few lawyers ever face. In the book, the attorneys do not tell anyone about Mattieces plan to execute the two Supreme Court Judges. The Model Rules state that an attorney is allowed to reveal a clients information to prevent reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm (Miller and Urisko 99). Attorneys decision to hide Mattieces plan is good for a book, but is it professional?This is unethical. Instead of following along with Mattieces plan to find a government agency to win his case in the Supreme Court of the United States, the attorneys could refu se to assist him in his killings plan. If Mattieces threat to kill does not seem to result in certain death or cause serious bodily injury, White and Blazevich they could continue representing the client without revealing any confidential information and not jeopardizing their careers. Another ethical dilemma that White and Blazevich firm faces actually leads to their indictment later, involves confidentiality agreement between the client and the firm.A file or a document sitting on your desk, if observed by a three party, may reveal an identity of a client or enough information to suggest the clients identity (Miller and Urisko 102). If there is no disruption on Wakefields desk and secretaries are not in and out every second, Curtis Morgan, who finds the compromising memo, would not take the memo by accident. Finally, after waiting 15 minutes, Morgan picked up his files and documents from Wakefields cluttered desk, and leftas he reached for a file, he found a handwritten memo on the bottom of the stack of documents he had just brought to his office.He had inadvertently taken it from Wakefields desk (Grisham 340). This ethical dilemma could be avoided if Wakefield would not let secretaries go through his office back and forth, or let anyone put folders, files, or documents on his desk while there are other notes or documents there. If Wakefield is on the phone, he should let everyone know not to bother him. If someone comes into his office to ask to review something, he should tell them to come back. Dont let that person mix his files with the files that he has on his desk. unluckily for attorneys and client, lies reveal at the end of the book.Indeed, as the book wraps up, Velmano, Schwabe, and Einstein get indicted. Wakefield commits suicide and Mattiece also gets indicted. However, they do not get such punishment without being responsible for the killing of innocent people along the way. They go through all this trouble just so that they would get financi al reward. Too unskilled for them, their plan fails.Works Cited Grisham, John. The Pelican Brief. New York Doubleday, 1992. Print. Miller, Roger LeRoy. , and Mary S. Urisko. Paralegal Today The Essentials. Clifton Park, NY Delmar Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.