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9 Ohio Law. 26 (1995)
Attorney Liens on Client Files

handle is hein.journals/ohiolawr9 and id is 28 raw text is: COUNSEL COMMENTS Attorney liens on client files by Albert L. Bell The right of an attorney to assert a lien on a client file after the attorney has been discharged appears to have been abolished by the Supreme Court of Ohio. In Reid, Johnson, etal vs. Lansberry (68 Ohio St. 3d 570 at 574), by way of dictum, Justice Alice Robie Resnick, speaking for the majority, stated that DR 2-1 10(B)(4) requires a lawyer representing a client ... shall withdraw from employment if: ... (s)(h)e is discharged by his client. The justice then said, along with the mandatory obligation to withdraw from a case when discharged, an attorney who is discharged must yield the case file. At the time appellant discharged the law firm, the firm was required to return his case file to him, and to cease any and all involvement in the case. Prior to this decision, it was generally accepted in Ohio that attorneys had a retaining lien on a client's file and could hold a file until payment was made or guaranteed to be made as long as it did not harm a client. For example, the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline of the Supreme Court of Ohio in Opinion 92-08 issued April 10, 1992 cited DR 2-11 0(A)(2) which requires lawyers to deliver to the client all papers and property to which the client is entitled .......The opinion reviews several Ohio cases, particu- larly the case of Foor vs. Huntington National Bank, (27 Ohio App. 3d 76, 27 Ohio BR 95, 499 NE 2d 1297). Foor upheld a retaining lien as a common law lien attaching to all property, papers, documents and monies of the client coming into the attorney's hands during the course of his representation and giving the attorney the right to retain possession of such property, papers, documents and money as security for fees and expenses due the attorney in connection with the professional relation- ship. With this Supreme Court dictum both the legal and ethical question of retaining a client's file to secure payment of a fee is not clearly answered. The Court made no attempt to distinguish Foor vs. Huntington National Bank, nor was it even mentioned. ... along with the mandatory obligation to withdraw from a case when discharged, an attorney who is discharged must yield the case file. At the time appellant discharged the law firm, the firm was required to return his case file to him, and to cease any and all involvement in the case. - Justice Alice Robie Resnick Ohio Jurisprudence 3d recognizes this type of lien to be an artisan lien, and describes it as a general or retaining lien with the right to retain possession of things of value belonging to the client. (6 0. Jur. 3d Attorneys at Law, Paragraph 177. For definition of artisan liens, see 66 0. Jur. 3d Liens, aragraph 50.) As far as client funds are concerned, assuming they are held in a trust account or an attorney retains possession of a settlement check, there probably would be a different analysis. The harm to the client would most likely be absent, that is, the harm that could arise from retaining a file or valuable papers. Concerning client's files, we now have in Ohio the Foor case upholding the common law lien of an attorney to retain the client file pending giving up security for payment of the fee, and the dictum in the Reid, Johnson case which requirs a lawyer to yield the file without any security for the fee. Albert L. Bell is general counsel to the Ohio State Bar Associa- tion. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1995

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