Читать книгу How to Be a Lawyer - Jason Mendelson - Страница 37

When you act as an attorney for someone, you are a fiduciary. You are a service provider. Your client is the customer. But unlike the person selling you the latest iPhone at your local cellular store, you must not only treat them like a customer, you must always have their interests above your own.

On paper, this is easy, but in the real world it gets complicated quickly due to differing communication abilities, access, competing interests, and misalignments of incentives. You'll hear a lot about elements of what comprises a fiduciary duty. You may hear about duties of loyalty, care, good faith, lawful action, confidentiality, etc. Depending on what type of fiduciary you are, for example, a lawyer, board director, or trustee, some or all of these may come into play. But we don't want to overload and confuse you like law school. Let's just focus on simply being prepared and acting in the best interests of someone else.

Here are two hypotheticals to illustrate these complexities.