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Issued January 26, 2001
Issue: Under the Utah Rules of Professional Conduct, may an attorney representing a client in a divorce case assert a statutory attorney's lien under Utah Code Ann. ¤78-54-51 against
property awarded to the client in the divorce settlement?
Conclusion: First, the invocation of an attorney's lien under Utah Code Ann. ¤78-51-41 does not require the attorney to meet the requirements of rule 1.8(a) of the Utah Rules of
Professional Conduct, which generally governs business transactions between lawyers and their clients. Second, where the Utah courts have not squarely addressed issues concerning the
applicability of an attorney's lien on particular types of property awards in domestic-law cases, this Committee does not have the jurisdiction nor the authority to interpret the
applicable statute or the holdings of the Utah appellate courts on related issues. Nevertheless, a lawyer is not subject to discipline if she attempts to assert the statutory attorney's
lien in a domestic-law situation so long as there continues to be a supportable, good-faith legal basis to do so.
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