This article examines the termination of an attorney-client relationship. There are different ways of terminating the attorney-client relationship. More specifically, there is mandatory withdrawal and permissive withdrawal with respect to terminating the engagement in the course of litigation. As a general rule, however, a lawyer should not take on a client unless he or she thinks that he or she can finish the representation or see the case all the way through trial if necessary.
According to the law, it is mandatory for an attorney to withdraw from the representation if the relationship violates some rule of law, the lawyer is not mentally or physically fit to handle the case, or the lawyer is fired. Further, as a general rule, a lawyer has the option to withdraw if he or she wants to actually fire the client and can accomplish the withdrawal without there being adverse effects and consequences on the client's case. In addition, a lawyer may withdraw if he or she thinks they are helping the client in a criminal course of conduct or if the client is using the lawyer's services to commit fraud. Last, but not least, a lawyer may withdraw if he or she is not getting paid.
At the end of the day, a lawyer has many options to withdraw whether it is permissive or mandatory. A lot of times, however, clients will hold the lawyer hostage to the case pending any motions to withdraw. This is the scary part about being a lawyer since a client can hold the lawyer hostage to the case and make the attorney work for free for countless weeks until the judge approves of the withdrawal.
I think there should be an easier more streamlined way of a lawyer being able to withdraw from a case. For example, would an engagement agreement that is signed by the client that allows the lawyer to withdraw if he or she wants to count as an agreed motion to withdraw? I don't know the answer to this but I have seen this language in many engagement agreements.
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