Appendix 55
gal or fraudulent, except as part of a bona fide effort to determine the validity, scope, meaning or
application of a law.
Standard 3.5. Duty to Keep Client Informed. The lawyer has a duty to keep the client informed
of the developments in the case, and of the lawyer’s efforts and progress with respect to all
phases of representation. This duty may extend, in the case of a juvenile client, to a parent or
guardian whose interests are not adverse to the juvenile’s, subject to the requirements of confi-dentiality
set forth in 3.3, above.
PART IV. INITIAL STAGES OF REPRESENTATION
Standard 4.1. Prompt Action to Protect the Client. Many important rights of clients involved in
juvenile court proceedings can be protected only by prompt advice and action. The lawyers
should immediately inform clients of their rights and pursue any investigatory or procedural
steps necessary to protection of their clients’ interests.
Standard 4.2. Interviewing the Client.
(a) The lawyer should confer with a client without delay and as often as necessary to ascertain
all relevant facts and matters of defense known to the client.
(b) In interviewing a client, it is proper for the lawyer to question the credibility of the client’s
statements or those of any other witness. The lawyer may not, however, suggest expressly
or by implication that the client or any other witness prepare or give, on oath or to the
lawyer, a version of the facts which is in any respect untruthful, nor may the lawyer inti-mate
that the client should be less than candid in revealing material facts to the attorney.
Standard 4.3. Investigation and Preparation.
(a) It is the duty of the lawyer to conduct a prompt investigation of the circumstances of the
case and to explore all avenues leading to facts concerning responsibility for the acts or
conditions alleged and social or legal dispositional alternatives. The investigation should
always include efforts to secure information in the possession of prosecution, law enforce-ment,
education, probation and social welfare authorities. The duty to investigate exists
regardless of the client’s admissions or statements of facts establishing responsibility for
the alleged facts and conditions or of any stated desire by the client to admit responsibility
for those acts and conditions.
(b) Where circumstances appear to warrant it, the lawyer should also investigate resources
and services available in the community and, if appropriate, recommend them to the client
and the client’s family. The lawyer’s responsibility in this regard is independent of the pos-ture
taken with respect to any proceeding in which the client is involved.
(c) It is unprofessional conduct for a lawyer to use illegal means to obtain evidence or infor-mation
or to employ, instruct or encourage others to do so.
Standard 4.4. Relations with Prospective Witnesses.
The ethical and legal rules concerning counsel’s relations with lay and expert witnesses generally
govern lawyers engaged in juvenile court representation.
PART V. ADVISING AND COUNSELING THE CLIENT
Standard 5.1. Advising the Client Concerning the Case.
(a) After counsel is fully informed on the facts and the law, he or she should with complete
candor advise the client involved in juvenile court proceedings concerning all aspects of
the case, including counsel’s frank estimate of the probable outcome. It is unprofessional
conduct for a lawyer intentionally to understate or overstate the risks, hazards or
prospects of the case in order unduly or improperly to influence the client’s determination
of his or her posture in the matter.