Consider a situation in which an attorney is (1) a partner in a law firm that is
ID: 347986 • Letter: C
Question
Consider a situation in which an attorney is (1) a partner in a law firm that is organized as a general partnership and (2) teaches as an adjunct college professor on Monday nights. The attorney does not contribute her salary from teaching to the partnership. Is that attorney violating her fiduciary duties to the partnership by working a second job? Would your analysis change if the attorney was preparing class documents and responding to student emails during the 9-5 workday? What other factors might impact your analysis
Explanation / Answer
In general partnership, the partnership responsibilities are equally divided and the profits also. The profits and loss that may arise from partnership are split between the partners. But in this situation the attorney teaches as an adjunct college professor on Monday nights and her second job is not part of the partnership. Her work is not affecting the performance of the partnership as she does her second job after the working hours of the law firm without taking any benefit out of partnership and she need not contribute her salary from teaching to the partnership. Moreover the teaching profession cannot influence her position in the law firm and hence the attorney is not violating her fiduciary duties.
If the attorney is preparing class documents and responding to student mails during 9-5 on the working day, she is performing the duties related to her second job during the working hours of the partnership and this may affect her duties towards the law firm and the performance of the partnership. The profits would be affected and the attorney should utilize the working hours only for the benefit of the partnership. The second job would be a violation of the attorney’s fiduciary duties as she cannot ensure the highest standard of care towards the partnership.
The factors that may affect the analysis here apart from the working hours are the attorney’s second job’s relation with the partnership which measures the extent to which the second job can influence her position in the legal firm. Another factor can be the use of partnership firm’s properties for performing the second job. When the attorney perform a part of second job during work hours as in second situation, she would be utilizing the computer, paper, pen and other properties of the legal firm against the rules which demand the use of the properties only for the benefit of the partnership firm.