When Your Clients Like You Too Much

Crimson Bear relates the story of a female client asking him out. While neither office policy nor the disciplinary rules in his state prohibit such an encounter, he politely declined, on account of her being accused of attacking her previous boyfriend with a knife. What about the presumption of innocence, I ask! Seriously, though, I imagine this is something just about every public defender practicing long enough has experienced. My personal favorite was when a client whose case I had resolved with a plea bargain a couple weeks before showed up at my office with flowers for me. I insisted that such a gesture was not necessary, I was just doing my job, yada yada yada. But, he insisted on giving them to me and proceeded to tell me how intelligent and understanding I was. As he continued his very brief courtship of me, the following thought ran through my head: You know I know you tried to strangle your pregnant girlfriend, right? Alas, I have managed to unknowingly move myself from a state in which romantic relationships with clients are permitted to one in which it's a definite no-no. It's always nice to have disciplinary rules to save you from yourself.

(Thanks to Skelly for the tip.)