So you have an agenda. You work in a large law office, let's say. Your boss is political, you might also say. Your boss has an agenda.
So you have instructions. Your boss tells you to file a lawsuit which will protect or promote his agenda. Ordinarily, a lawyer files a lawsuit in the name of another person.
So now you have an agenda and you have instructions. Only one thing is necessary.
You need to speak with your prospective client before you file a lawsuit in the name of that prospective client.
You see, when you are a lawyer, you may have an agenda, and you may have instructions to file a lawsuit, but a lawsuit belongs to the client -- not to you. Or to your boss, or to your agenda.
In Wisconsin, an assistant attorney general filed an appeal in the name of the Secretary of State. The assistant had an agenda and instructions. One problem. The Secretary of State says he was never asked.
Turns out he does not want to appeal at all. And perhaps embarassing to the lawyer or lawyers who filed his appeal, he has told that to the Supreme Court where "his" appeal is pending. Reportedly, the Secretary of State now has his own lawyer who has asked for the appeal to be withdrawn, after he successfully pointed out that the attorney general's office has what is reported as a "conflict". See Ed Treleven, "La Follette Asks Court to Withdraw Appeal of Injunction Against Collective Bargaining Bill" (Wisconsin State Journal, posted online Wednesday night, April 6, 2011).
The Wisconsin Secretary of State is a Democrat. The Wisconsin attorney general is a Republican.
Do you think the lawyers knew that before an appeal was filed in which an assistant or assistants attorney general represented that they, well, represented the appellant? It seems like that would have been all the more reason to speak with the appellant, before filing his appeal, if only to ask simply if he wanted to take an appeal.
Political shenanigans are no substitute for acting like a lawyer. Or for common sense.
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