Consultation visit.

What is the name of your state?Washington State

I sat with an attorney to draw up CCR's and easement covenents. After talking to him for an 1 1/2 hours he told be he couldn't take work. When I left he told me I owed him $100 dollars for the consultation. I paid him because it's a small town and I didn't want to start a fight with the only real estate attorney in town after just moving in.

During this time I went over all the property issues with my adjacent neighbors and he gossiped about all my neighbors. I basically concluded he was the "yiddish" word for a bad lawyer and was glad to have nothing to do with him.

Unfortunatley now, a year later, my neighbor has retained him to challenge one of the easements that I had talked to him about. This involved adverse possession that neighbor tried years ago, and now the neighbor is acting up again.

Since I confided in him during a paid consultation, does this constitute a conflict of interest? I'm guessing now the neighbor had hired him years ago for this issue, and he sat there and talked to me about it, then charge me, and sent me on my way.

His advice for the $100 was "go get another attorney". Now he is going to sue me after listening to my side of the story first hand without stopping me.

What can I do?

Legal Malpractice

Yuck. You certainly should have remedy to prevent this "attorney" from using information that you perceive was given to him in confidence. Sounds awfully bizarre, I do agree with that.

The whole mess is well within Washington's statute of limitations. However, generally, someone involved in a civil action cannot sue the opposition's attorney for legal malpractice - but your case might be an exception: AFTER you lose and IF a paid 1/2 hour constitutes an attorney-client relationship and IF that very brief breached a-c privilege can be proven to be significant to your losses . . lots of if's.

You don't say how far the action against you has proceeded -or even if it has. You don't say you have been served with a writ and complaint so I'm going to assume you have not yet retained an attorney to represent you. And you don't say how you know this suit is being prepared - did your neighbors tell you? Did you receive a letter from the attorney telling you he was going to sue you? If you have been served, you need an attorney - now: this is not a pro se opportunity!

If you haven't been served, my advice to you is still to move quickly and find an attorney: the first objective being to stop any further flow of information between your neighbors and their "lawyer". Even if you prevent them from using this attorney to bring an action against you, they can find another. And although evidence can always be ruled inadmissable, the more of it there is; the longer the discussions last and the more that gets formalized in writing, the harder it will be down the road to ascertain what information your neighbors came by improperly.

If for some reason you want to wait on representation, you can start with a letter to the bar association - today. If you have not been served with a complaint, tell them why you think you are about to be - and include copies of any correspondence from the attorney or your neighbors. Be clear and consise. Provide the time of the appointment as well as the date; what kind of help you were looking for - heck, if you remember the receptionist's name, provide that too. Tell them exactly what you told the attorney AND exactly what he told you - not only about your property issue, but whatever "gossiping" about your neighbors he did. Include a copy of the check you paid with or the receipt he gave you; copies of any notes you made and tell them verbatim - in quotation marks what he told you regarding his "inability" to represent you - everything. Stress that this attorney never told you - or even suggested - that what you told him would not be kept in confidence or could be used against you at a later date. Request politely - but with urgency - that this matter be addressed as quickly as possible so that privileged information does not continue to be inappropriately documented and made public knowledge, as happens in civil proceedings.

Your next letter - to the attorney - should be short and to the point. State that on such and such a date you consulted with him for advice concerning xxx and that this consultation lasted xxx for which you paid him $$$. State that it was, and continues to be, your belief that all interaction between you and he - from the simple fact that a consultation occurred at all - to any and all communication that took place within its context - is privileged information. Don't say why you believe this and don't use the phrase "attorney-client privilege" State that it is your understanding that he is now commencing an action against you on behalf of parties who were discussed during your privileged consultation with him; based in whole or in part on privileged information he received directly from you. End by telling him you believe his actions demonstrate several serious ethical violations; including conflict of interest and breach of confidentiality - the facts of which you have detailed in a formal complaint to the Washington State Bar Association. Do not include a copy of your letter to the bar.

From the sound of this, it seems inevitable that you are going to require legal representation - and sooner seems a better idea than later. And legal letterhead always tends to be taken more seriously.