One topic addressed at the recent symposium on unbundled legal services was ghostwriting. This can take several forms -from a lawyer coaching a self-represented client on what to do/say/expect in court to actually drafting a pleading or brief to be filed by the client in a court matter. As disciplinary counsel, I was all in favor of folks helping self-represented parties understand the process and assisting them in arriving at the courthouse with all the necessary forms filled in correctly. But I was cautious about ghostwriting.
Some folks feel that ghostwriting of a pleading or a brief by a lawyer who does not have to acknowledge her or his part in it and who will not be responsible for its contents allows lawyers to shirk off their duties of candor and honesty to courts. Rule 3.1 of the Rules of Professional Conduct requires a lawyer filing a pleading to make sure that it is well founded in fact and law. Rule 3.3 requires specific disclosures to courts, including adverse authority. Practice Book 4-7 provides that by signing a pleading, a lawyer is certifying that there is both good law to support it but also that it is not interposed for delay. What happens when the lawyer no longer has to worry about being called to task for the contents of a pleading?
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