(a) Representing the client is likely to result in violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct or other law;
(b) Representing the client is likely to result in a substantial and unreasonable burden on the lawyer; or
(c) The client or the cause is so repugnant to the lawyer as to be likely to impair the client-lawyer relationship or the lawyer’s ability to represent the client.
Comment
[1] A lawyer ordinarily is not obliged to accept a client whose character or cause the lawyer regards as repugnant. The lawyer’s freedom to select clients is, however, qualified. All lawyers have a responsibility to assist in providing pro bono public service. See Rule 6.1. An individual lawyer fulfills this responsibility by accepting a fair share of unpopular matters or indigent or unpopular clients. A lawyer may also be subject to appointment by a court to serve unpopular clients or persons unable to afford legal services.
Appointed Counsel
[2] For good cause a lawyer may seek to decline an
appointment to represent a person who cannot afford to retain counsel
or whose cause is unpopular. Good cause exists if the lawyer could not
handle the matter competently, see Rule 1.1, or if undertaking the representation
would result in an improper conflict of interest; for example, when
the client or the cause is so repugnant to the lawyer as to be likely
to impair the client-lawyer relationship or the lawyer’s ability
to represent the client. A lawyer may also seek to decline an appointment
if acceptance would be substantially and unreasonably burdensome, such
as when it would impose a financial sacrifice so great as to be unjust.
[3] An appointed lawyer has the same obligations to
the client as retained counsel, including the obligations of loyalty
and confidentiality, and is subject to the same limitations on the client-lawyer
relationship, such as the obligation to refrain from assisting the client
in violation of the Rules.
