1. Aaliyah Haughton is a recent graduate of Down-Home State University. She majored in criminal justice with a minor in paralegal legal studies. While she has a deep passion for singing, she knows the odds of making it in the music business are one in a million, so she sets her sights on the legal field. She met all of the requirements of the National Association of Legal Assistants, NALA, to take the exam and become certified. Shortly after graduating, Aaliyah began applying for jobs as a paralegal while she was studying to become a certified paralegal. Although it took some time, after about 3 months, Aaliyah secured a job working as a paralegal at a law firm and then, shortly after, she found out she passed the exam and became a certified paralegal. Aaliyah fit right in at the new law firm. Her boss, Lincoln Lawyer (Lawyer), was really nice and taught her all that he knew about the personal injury business. 
2. She learned how to interview potential new clients, how to weed out the good cases from the bad cases that wouldn't make the firm any money, and how to send out letters of representation to all of the medical providers and the insurance company. Meanwhile, after Aaliyah set up the file, sent out the letters of representation, contacted the insurance company, and gathered all of the medical records, Lawyer came in and put together the demand packet, negotiated a settlement with the insurance adjuster, and notified the client of the settlement amount before officially settling the case. This was the normal practice, but after about 1 ½ years of working at the firm, Aaliyah got so good at her job that Lawyer trusted her and gave her more responsibilities. Eventually, Lawyer tasked Aaliyah with handling some personal injury cases from start to finish. So, instead of Lawyer putting together the demand packet and handling the case from that point forward, Lawyer let Aaliyah put together the demand packet, negotiate the settlement with the insurance adjuster, notify the client, and settle and close out the case. Things were going really well, and Aaliyah had settled about 7 cases on her own in the now 2 ½ years since she started working at the firm. 
3. One day she got a call from a former client, Jack, who was upset because he just found out that the case was settled without consideration for the nearly $10,000.00 in lost wages that he had related to the injury, and also because the firm failed to negotiate a settlement for the wrongful death of Jack's brother, who died in the same accident. Jack said that he tried to call the insurance company himself, but they told him that they wouldn't be paying anything on the wrongful death claim because the statute of limitations had run out and the insurance company no longer had any legal obligation to pay. 
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5. Jack was livid and threatened to sue the firm for malpractice. Six months later, Jack hired an attorney and sued Lincoln Lawyer for malpractice. In a deposition hearing held before the trial, it was revealed that Jack had been trying to contact Lawyer at least twice a week, every week, in the 5 months before the statute of limitations ran on the wrongful death claim, but that Jack could only speak to Aaliyah and Lawyer never returned any of his calls. It also came to light that Lincoln's lawyer didn't review any of the 7 cases and demand packets that he allowed Aaliyah to work on from start to finish. This included Jack's case. 
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7. Consequently, Lawyer did not know the lost wages claim was not in the demand packet; and he also did not know that Aaliyah did not request, nor include the final medical bill from a medical procedure that Jack had late in the process, which was shortly before settlement, and he had no idea it was even possible to include a demand for payment for gas mileage to and from medical appointments. When Jack was asked whether he had been notified of the offer from the insurance company prior to settlement, Jack said, "No. I hadn't heard from the firm in about 2 months and then I got a call to come in and sign for the check. I had no idea whether that was the first offer or whether that was the only offer they gave us." If Lincoln Lawyer is brought up on charges by the NC State Bar for violating the professional rules of conduct, what rule or rules will he be charged with violating? Specifically, what did Lawyer do right or wrong with respect to his supervision of Aaliyah? 
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9. Would your answer change if Aaliyah were certified before she got hired, or does that matter at all? If Lawyer did not do everything right, tell me what Lawyer should have done to avoid being brought up on the charges and to avoid being sued.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Based on the information provided there are several professional rules of conduct that Lincoln Lawyer Lawyer may have violated in his supervision of Aaliyah and the handling of Jacks case The potentia... View the full answer