or the court may revoke his license, either temporarily or permanently, depending upon how serious the offense of which he is guilty may be. Every state has a statute on its books making communications between client and attorney confidential, so that such communications are absolutely inviolate and may not be revealed by the lawyer except with the full consent and knowledge of the client himself. The attorney stands in a unique position, different entirely from that of any other individual or class of individuals. An attorney must be trained in the law, experienced in the interpretation of the law, familiar with the technical language used in legal documents, and accustomed to studying the decisions of courts and applying them to the particular case before him. § 544. Duties of a Lawyer in Preparing a Will In order properly to advise a client or to prepare a legal document, all of the foregoing valuable qualifications are necessary. Take, for example, the preparation of a will as set forth in the earlier chapters of this work. This act, in that the testator thereby seeks to dispose of property which he has worked a lifetime to accumulate, in such a way as will best protect and provide for his family and survivors, is of the utmost seriousness and importance. A will is almost a sacred document in that it is the last expression of the wishes of the person who, when the will becomes effective, will have passed out of this world, yet it frequently happens that a testator will prepare his own will, or take the advice of some unskilled friend. This sometimes results in some very peculiar, even ludicrous wills, one of which is as follows: GILBOA, Feb. 20, 1883. I, George P. Ashmore, of the town of Gilboa County of Schoharies and State of New York, do hereby in this my last will and testament, give and bequeath to my daughter Ruth Ashmore, my only lawful heir, all my real and per sonal estate to be used according to her best knowledge and ability both for her support and comfort and benevolent purposes, so long as she needs it. I give and bequeath to the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in America Five Hundred Dollars for the support of Missions and Missionaries to be paid in one sum or one-hundred-dollar payments, as Providence appears to direct, before my decease if thought best. I give and bequeath to the Board of Education of the Reformed Church in America enough to endow or found a scholarship, the annual interest to be used to educate and qualify needy pious young men for the Ministry, to be paid before my or Mary's death if thought best, after the expenses are all paid, all the remainder of my estate to be equally divided between the Foreign and Domestic Missionary Boards of the Reformed Church in America for the support of Missions and Missionaries. I appoint John C. Haynes for sole executor. H. M. HAYNES R. D. CARR (Signed) GEORGE P. ASHMORE, Testator Witnesses. P. S. The five hundred dollars given by the second bequest For Read the will set forth above again, try to interpret or construe it. When this will was probated the resulting litigation dissipated a large part of a moderate sized estate. two years the matter was before the courts, and the final construction was unsatisfactory to all parties. This is typical of what happens when a man makes his own will, and the reason why lawyers are said to approve such amateur efforts. When a corporation or an individual who is not a lawyer presumes to advise anyone as to his legal rights or to assist him in the preparation of a legal document, it or he is not responsible; and even if his advice is wrong, or causes loss or injury to others, or is even immoral, no one can be held. § 545. Why a Bank or Trust Company Should Not Do Legal Work No bank or trust company should set itself up as an advisor in any legal matters. It is not and cannot be admitted to the bar, and it is not trained and cannot be trained in the law. Though it may employ a lawyer and gain his services for customers, the attorney is responsible only to the corporation which employs him. In fact, it would be unethical for the attorney to give advice to customers of the bank or trust company, because of the fact that he does not owe the paramount obligation to the person seeking the advice, but to his employer. One of the fundamental ethical principles of the legal profession is that an attorney must not represent a client unless he can recognize a paramount obligation to serve his client. When an attorney is employed by an institution, he cannot recognize a paramount obligation to serve a customer of the bank or trust company should the interests of the customer and of the institution conflict. There are trust companies and banks which advertise that they will prepare wills for customers who will in turn designate the bank or trust company as executor or trustee, or both. Their method of procedure when an individual comes in response to the advertisement, is to call in the counsel employed by the bank to discuss the preparation of the will with the individual. He is necessarily advised that the bank or trust company should be appointed executor or trustee, or both. The attorney owes his first obligation to his employer, namely, the bank or trust company. It might well be that in a particular case this advice would not be proper, and at all events the attorney is handicapped in that his paramount obligation, which should be to the client whose will he is drawing, cannot be so because of the fact that he is not his client at the time, but a customer of the bank. In New York these facts are recognized and a statute is on the books which prohibits corporations from practicing law. Decisions have been rendered under this statute which have strongly supported it. In a case under this statute the court held that the preparation of a will by an attorney employed by the trust company was practicing law within the meaning of the statute and was in violation thereof.1 Although it may not as yet be a statutory offense in other states for corporations to practice law, and especially for banks or trust companies to prepare wills, yet it is as unethical and ill-advised in one place. as it is in another, and it is not too much to say that no bank or trust company should, under any circumstances, indulge in the practice. § 546. What a Lawyer May Advise In other chapters of this work we have endeavored to point out in fair and reasonable ways, the advantages of the appointment of a bank or trust company in a fiduciary capacity over the appointment of an individual. It is believed that attorneys should recognize this fact and that they should advise their clients in the interest of the clients and not necessarily in their own. There is no doubt that the tendency would be for some attorneys to advise their clients not to appoint a bank or trust company, because by so doing they feel that they will lose the employment of probating the will and administering the estate when the time arrives. This, however, should not be a moving force affecting in any way the advice which the attorney gives his client. Furthermore, it is not necessarily true that the attorney who prepares the instrument will not have the work of probating the will and administering the estate. This matter is discussed in §§ 185, 191. § 547. How Far a Bank or Trust Company May Go From the standpoint of ethics it is not well for banks and trust companies to attempt to advise customers with regard 1 to their legal rights. This does not, of course, mean that a bank or trust company officer should not discuss with a customer certain practical provisions that he may want to make in his will, nor does it mean that the officer of a bank or trust company should hesitate to discuss the general proposition of the appointment of the bank or trust company in a fiduciary capacity. When, however, the proposition is put before the bank or trust company officers to prepare a will, they should refuse to do so and should tell the customer that the proper person to prepare the will is the customer's own counsel, or at least counsel of his own choosing. If more than this is done, the institution assumes a liability and a certain responsibility which is unnecessary and which it is well to avoid. Aside from the question of ethics it is well to consider what is to be gained by making friends of members of the legal profession. A great deal of the business that comes to a bank or trust company, particularly in its trust department, comes through attorneys. A broad-minded, well-trained attorney will almost certainly advise his client to appoint a bank or trust company in any fiduciary capacities in preference to an individual; or if there is some reason why an individual should be appointed, he will advise that an institution be appointed co-executor or co-trustee, along with the individual. Moreover, the attorney will select the depositary for funds of an estate for which he is executor or administrator. Naturally he will choose the bank or trust company towards which he feels a friendly interest, everything else being equal. § 548. The Attorney for the Estate Another phase of this question arises when a person, having named the bank or trust company as his executor or trustee, dies and the will is to be offered for probate. There are many institutions in all sections of the country which insist, as is |