Laws of the Practice

1.      A legal practice should offer the lawyer the opportunity to thrive as an attorney maximizing their legal and personal skills to improve their client’s lives, the community, and enhance their feeling of self-worth and contribution.  

2.      A legal practice should never lose focus that the practice of law is a privilege afforded by the people.  

3.      The practice of law is a profession and carries with it the pressures of any business.  Yet, the lawyer should temper his desire to succeed with service to the community and not allow the practice to become a means of accumulating wealth.  

4.      A lawyer should be compensated for his stock in trade-advice and time, while maintaining low overhead costs so as to provide cost-effective representation.  

5.      When the shadow of injustice threatens to enshroud a client, a lawyer’s practice should allow the flexibility for a sliding scale of fees so that clients deserving of quality representation are not offered up to the pressures of the bottom line.  

6.      A lawyer should temper his practice with the knowledge that as attorneys and counselors at law we have a duty to advise our clients on the law and the implications of their decision to their family and the community.  

7.      A lawyer should never stray from what is moral and right while never placing personal morals above the client’s rights and desires.  

8.      A lawyer should never represent a client that troubles the lawyer’s conscience.  Each client deserves a lawyer dedicated to his or her cause in heart, mind, and soul.  

9.      A lawyer should seek out ways to improve the law through diligent efforts to change the laws that are oppressive, unjust, and immoral.  

10.     When the practice of law is no longer a means of wielding the sword of justice, a lawyer should search out clients and causes that stoke the fire of the lawyer’s passions.

Matthew J. O'Connor
Attorney and Active Community Member

Helping Hand Institute 523 Grand, Suite 1B Kansas City, MO 64106

Phone: (816) 842-1111 FAX: (816) 842-3322