What are the ethics/guidelines for attorneys using the perceived power of their firm for personal lawsuits?
Breaking your question down into three pieces: 1. Ethics rules governing attorneys are different from state to state, and are, in almost all states, codified in law. 2. Ethics guidelines also vary from state to state, but there are some broad guidelines issued by professional organizations. 3. The perceived power or ability of a plaintiff’s law firm is almost always a factor in a defendant’s consideration of whether to settle a lawsuit, whether the plaintiff is an attorney or not. Attorneys certainly have an advantage in bringing actions on their own, in that they don’t have to pay a lawyer… but very few, if any, courts will grant an attorney fees for work the attorney does on his own behalf (there are exceptions, particularly in courts in which a statutory cost allowance is provided). If you’ve settled your case, you don’t really have any further recourse – part of your settlement, undoubtedly, was a release barring further actions.
