To state the obvious, not all clients are perfect. Every client has flaws, and those flaws are often the very reason that the client hired an attorney in the first place. If not for flawed clients, there may be much less need for attorneys. But what can an attorney do when a client’s flaws amount to mental or physical intimidation, bullying, or belittling behavior directed at the attorney himself? What can an attorney do when the client accuses him of “cowardice,” “disloyalty,” “stupidity,” or worse? Just because the attorney agreed to take on the representation in the first place, must the attorney just “suck it up” and continue, even at the expense of his own mental health or personal safety? The answer is an unequivocal “NO!” although the Rules of Professional Conduct get there in a roundabout way.

When a lawyer asks me for advice about terminating a client who has revealed himself to be an intolerable bully, I first turn to NC Rule of Professional Conduct 1.16 – Declining or Terminating Representation. While there is no specific mention in the rule or its comments about terminating “bullying” clients, Rule 1.16(b)(1) allows the lawyer to withdraw if the withdrawal “can be accomplished without material adverse effect on the interest of the client.” This is all fine and good if the bullying behavior reveals itself early in the representation and there are no immediate deadlines. However, what is the lawyer to do if a year into the representation the client directs unforgivably vile insults at the lawyer after a mediation has impassed and a trial is scheduled in two months? Withdrawal that late in the representation may materially prejudice the client unless the court agrees to continue the trial to give the client time to find new counsel after the withdrawal.

Fortunately, Rule 1.16(b) has other independent grounds that also allow an attorney to withdraw under certain conditions created by a bullying client. For instance, clients occasionally become bullying in response to their lawyer’s refusal to act unethically or unprofessionally at the client’s behest. In such cases, Rule 1.16(b)(4) permits the lawyer to withdraw when the client “insists upon taking action the lawyer considers repugnant, imprudent, or contrary to the advice of the lawyer.” However, this sort of client demand is rarely overt and often does not accurately describe the working conditions the client creates with their bullying behavior. Bullies can be more devious and outright cruel in the ways they try to manipulate and belittle the lawyer.

More typically, bullying accompanies the client’s complaints about perceived shortcomings of the attorney in the conduct of client’s legal matter. “We lost the motion because you are a pathetic lawyer.” “The only explanation for your refusal to be more aggressive is that you must be romantically involved with the opposing attorney.” If the bullying is unreasonable and persistent, Rule 1.16(b)(7) allows the lawyer to withdraw if “the representation . . . has been rendered unreasonably difficult by the client.” Agreeing to represent a client does not mean that you must put up with abusive treatment by the client. Such behavior makes the representation “unreasonably difficult” and is should be proper grounds for moving to withdraw.

Finally, while Rule 1.16(b) discusses the various grounds permitting a lawyer to withdraw, Rule 1.16(a)(2) says that a lawyer “shall withdraw from the representation of a client if . . . the lawyer’s physical or mental condition materially impairs the lawyer’s ability to represent the client.” Client threats, harassment, or abuse may be so severe as to cause an attorney to feel unsafe physically or psychologically if the representation continues. In such a case, the lawyer should usually seek to withdraw as soon as possible because the lawyer’s real fear of the client impairs the lawyer’s ability to represent the client effectively and ethically.

In all these scenarios, the decision to move to withdraw should not be taken lightly. Mere distaste for a difficult client does not amount to grounds for termination. Comment [1] to Rule 1.16 states, “A lawyer should not accept representation in a matter unless it can be performed . . . to completion.” However, as my colleague Mark Scruggs has said many times, “an attorney-client relationship is not indentured servitude,” i.e., you may fire the client when necessary. Tolerating unreasonable bullying from a client is, at minimum, demeaning and upsetting, and at worst, debilitating and unhealthy. Don’t put up with bullying clients. Get rid of the bullies to allow yourself to provide higher quality representation to the other 99.9% of your clients.