Can a lawyer assert an attorney's lien on bail money the client's father posted?

Plain-English summary

A lawyer had a client in jail. The client's father gave the lawyer $11,000 to post bail, and those funds remained posted with the court. There was no agreement between the father and the lawyer about how the bail funds would be handled. The lawyer asked whether he could ethically assert an attorney's lien on the funds.

The committee said it generally does not opine on questions of law, so it did not reach a conclusion on whether an attorney's lien may properly be asserted against the bail funds in this case. It did say that the false assertion of an attorney's lien may be a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2004, before the Washington State Bar Association's adoption of the 2006 revisions to the Rules of Professional Conduct. The rules were renumbered and revised in 2006. Subsequent rule amendments or later opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance. Verify against current rules before relying on any specific rule mentioned here.

In practice

Under the Washington rules as they stood at the time of the opinion, the committee separated two questions. Whether an attorney's lien may legally attach to bail funds posted by a third party (here the client's father) is a question of law the committee declined to answer. As an ethics matter, the committee said only that the false assertion of an attorney's lien may violate the RPCs, without resolving the validity of the lien on these facts.

Common questions

Q: Does the committee say whether a lawyer can assert a lien on bail money?

A: No. The committee said it does not opine on questions of law and did not decide whether an attorney's lien may properly be asserted against the bail funds.

Q: What ethics point did the committee make?

A: It said the false assertion of an attorney's lien may be a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Background and rules framework

The opinion addresses the line between legal questions and ethics questions. Whether an attorney's lien validly attaches to bail funds posted by the client's father is a matter of substantive law on which the committee does not opine. The committee's only ethics statement was that a false assertion of an attorney's lien may violate the RPCs; it did not identify a specific numbered rule.

See also

• WSBA Ethics Op. 1037: Attorney's Lien Across Matters
• WSBA Ethics Op. 1125: Possessory Lien on Client Property

Source

• Landing page: https://ao.wsba.org/print.aspx?ID=1315

Original opinion text

Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.

Advisory Opinion: 2066
Year Issued: 2004
RPC(s):
Subject: Assertion of attorney`s lien

The inquirer asked the following: The inquiring lawyer had a client in jail. The lawyer was given $11,000 by the client’s father for the purpose of bail. These funds are still posted with the court. The lawyer asks if he may ethically assert an attorney’s lien on the funds. The lawyer advised the committee that there was no agreement between the father and the lawyer about the disposition of the bail funds.

The committee generally does not opine on questions of law and so it does not reach a conclusion as to whether or not an attorney’s lien may properly be asserted against the bail funds in this case. But it did opine that the false assertion of an attorney’s lien may be a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct.