And it may be arranged by express contract, or the obligation to pay may be implied from circumstances from which an expectation of payment may be inferred. Brantly, Contracts, (2d Ed.) 21; Page v. Penrose, 147 Md. 225, 127 A. 748. On the other hand, the arrangement may be that the agent is to earn compensation only by procuring the result.
Certainly, an attorney-client relationship still can be found even though the attorney renders services or advice that is not strictly legal in character. See, e.g., Page v. Penrose, 147 Md. 225, 227–28, 127 A. 748, 749 (1925). Moreover, a personal relationship or close friendship with a purported “client” does not preclude a court from finding that an attorney-client relationship exists.
Certainly, an attorney-client relationship still can be found even though the attorney renders services or advice that is not strictly legal in character. See, e.g., Page v. Penrose, 147 Md. 225, 227–28, 127 A. 748, 749 (1925). Moreover, a personal relationship or close friendship with a purported “client” does not preclude a court from finding that an attorney-client relationship exists.
[W]hile his services may not, and so far as we can see were not, of a strictly legal character, nevertheless, it is just that he should have been compensated for the services he gave at the same rate as he would have been had they been strictly legal in character. 147 Md. 225, 225, 127 A. 748, 749 (1925). We hold alternatively that Respondent did not violate MRPC 1.5(a) based on a weighing of its applicable factors.
Certainly, an attorney-client relationship still can be found even though the attorney renders services or advice that is not strictly legal in character. See, e.g., Page v. Penrose, 147 Md. 225, 227-28, 127 A. 748, 749 (1925). Moreover, a personal relationship or close friendship with a purported "client" does not preclude a court from finding that an attorney-client relationship exists.
On the other hand, an attorney-client relationship may be found to exist even when the services performed by the attorney are not strictly legal in character. See Page v. Penrose, 147 Md. 225, 227-28, 127 A. 748, 749 (1925). The attorney in Page was retained as an attorney, although the work to be performed could have been completed by a non-lawyer.
Our predecessors concluded in Penrose v. Page, 145 Md. 1, 125 A. 549 (1924), that a Baltimore attorney employed as "special counsel" in an effort to save a failing bank was entitled to a fee for his extensive services. The matter returned to this Court in Page v. Penrose, 147 Md. 225, 127 A. 748 (1925). What Judge Offutt said for the Court there is significant because the Court found Mr. Penrose to be entitled to attorney's fees even though his services were not of a legal character and could have been performed by a non-lawyer bank executive:
And it may be arranged by express contract, or the obligation to pay may be implied from circumstances from which an expectation of payment may be inferred. Brantly, Contracts (2nd Ed.) 21; Page v. Penrose, 147 Md. 225, 127 A. 748. On the other hand, the arrangement may be that the agent is to earn compensation only by procuring the result. And that is the ordinary arrangement with commission agents and brokers.