via
Getty)
As
most
people
within
and
without
the
legal
profession
already
know,
lawyers
need
to
follow
ethical
rules
that
govern
the
practice
of
law.
This
usually
means
that
lawyers
cannot
lie
to
their
adversaries,
since
the
administration
of
justice
typically
requires
that
practitioners
be
truthful
in
their
statements
to
one
another. While
misstatements
about
settlement
authority
and
other
trivial
issues
might
be
dismissed,
lawyers
often
lie
in
egregious
ways. Attorneys
should
trust
what
their
adversaries
say,
but
always
verify
statements
that
are
made,
since
lawyers
may
make
misstatements
about
the
facts
or
law
to
advance
a
client’s
position.
At
the
beginning
of
my
career,
I
was
tasked
with
handling
an
appeal
for
a
matter
that
another
lawyer
handled
before
the
trial
court. My
adversary
agreed
to
discontinue
the
case
in
the
trial
court,
which
would
mean
that
the
appeal
we
filed
was
moot. However,
since
one
of
the
parties
was
not
represented
by
counsel
and
could
not
be
reached,
we
had
to
get
the
court
to
approve
the
stipulation
of
discontinuance
that
was
signed
by
all
of
the
parties
who
had
active
counsel.
As
the
deadline
for
my
adversary
to
file
opposition
papers
to
our
appeal
approached,
the
adversary
tried
to
bully
me
into
discontinuing
the
appeal
prematurely. However,
there
was
a
chance
the
court
would
not
agree
to
sign
our
stipulation
of
discontinuance,
in
which
case
we
needed
to
have
the
appeal
remain
active. This
adversary
called
me
one
day
and
told
me
that
he
received
a
letter
from
the
appellate
court
informing
him
that
my
appeal
would
be
considered
frivolous,
and
potentially
subject
me
to
sanctions,
if
I
did
not
discontinue
the
appeal
soon.
I
was
worried
about
what
my
adversary
told
me.
At
that
point,
I
was
only
practicing
law
for
a
few
years,
and
I
did
not
know
how
the
legal
system
operated. However,
I
knew
that
being
found
guilty
of
frivolous
conduct
would
be
horrible,
and
I
was
worried
there
was
some
truth
to
my
adversary’s
assertion. However,
the
more
I
thought
about
the
situation,
the
more
skeptical
I
became. Why
would
the
appellate
court
send
a
letter
to
just
my
adversary
and
not
me,
the
parties
that
was
supposedly
advancing
frivolous
conduct? I
asked
my
adversary
to
forward
a
copy
of
this
letter,
and
although
he
said
he
would,
no
letter
was
ever
forwarded.
It
was
clear
that
my
adversary
made
up
this
story
to
try
to
bully
me
to
prematurely
discontinue
my
appeal.
Another
time,
I
was
reviewing
court
records,
and
I
saw
that
a
new
action
had
been
filed
against
my
client. I
reached
out
to
the
lawyer
that
brought
the
action
for
an
extension
of
time
to
answer,
and
he
said
that
the
papers
had
already
been
served
and
my
time
to
respond
had
expired. I
conveyed
that
even
if
the
papers
had
been
served
the
same
day
the
case
was
filed
(a
rare
occurrence)
an
answer
would
still
be
timely,
and
I
asked
to
see
the
affidavit
of
service. My
adversary
said
the
affidavit
of
service
with
the
earlier
service
was
on
file
in
his
office,
but
that
he
did
not
have
access
to
this
document
at
the
moment.
When
I
later
reviewed
the
filed
affidavit
of
service,
I
discovered
the
papers
had
not
even
been
served
by
the
time
that
communication
had
taken
place. Of
course,
it
is
possible
that
this
lawyer
merely
mixed
up
two
different
cases. However,
it
is
also
possible
that
this
lawyer
lied
to
me
to
try
and
have
me
rush
to
file
an
answer
that
potentially
omitted
defenses
my
client
had
in
that
case.
All
told,
most
lawyers
are
trustworthy
practitioners,
and
it
is
important
to
be
honest
as
a
lawyer
to
build
a
good
reputation
in
the
legal
industry.
However,
some
lawyers
lie
to
their
adversaries
so
attorneys
should
verify
information
they
receive
from
counterparts.
Jordan
Rothman
is
a
partner
of The
Rothman
Law
Firm,
a
full-service
New
York
and
New
Jersey
law
firm.
He
is
also
the
founder
of Student
Debt
Diaries,
a
website
discussing
how
he
paid
off
his
student
loans.
You
can
reach
Jordan
through
email
at jordan@rothman.law.