Client Stealing Attorneys, The Worst Kind of Attorney-SC Rules of Professional Conduct

By Trey Mills on March 12, 2009

Recently two things happened that made me realize I should help highlight this point for my fellow South Carolinians.

A horrible head on collision in Anderson County where deaths were reported; and
Georgia attorney, Ken Shigley’s, blog post entitled "What to Do When Legal Vultures Descend on You After a Tragic Accident"

In Mr. Shigley’s article he highlights the pertinent parts of the Georiga Rules of Professional Conduct that are very similar in South Carolina. The most important thing to remember is that, as attorneys, we can not contact you or have someone (investigator, life planner, "fill in whatever foo foo bullshit title") contact you on our behalf after you or a family member has been in an accident.

There are stories about the Graniteville train accident, where out-of-town law firms had "runners" working cover as Red Cross workers to get clients. That’s wrong! (It was said, "All you had to do was look at the airplanes parked at the small community airport to tell something was up.")

Last year, I personally had a local attorney solicit a client away from me and I reported them for their bullshit, selfish, arrogant, and unethical act. They had an investigator waiting on my client when she got home that informed her that he had been working on her case and had an attorney that had also already been working on her case. (They didn’t anticipate her coming to a law firm prior to them getting to her.) That attorney came to her house, signed her up, and said they would take care of the "other attorney", aka ME!

I expressed it with comedy in my rewriting of "I Already Got an Attorney?" but it really pissed me off. I just could not handle getting in another fist fight and having my name in the paper, so I put it on my blog.

Rule 7.3 Direct Contact with Prospective Clients

(a) A lawyer shall not by in-person, live telephone or real-time electronic contact solicit professional employment from a prospective client when a significant motive for the lawyer’s doing so is the lawyer’s pecuniary gain, unless the person contacted:

(1) is a lawyer; or

(2) has a family, close personal, or prior professional relationship with the lawyer.

(b) A lawyer shall not solicit professional employment from a prospective client by direct written, recorded or electronic communication or by in-person, telephone, telegraph, facsimile or realtime electronic contact even when not otherwise prohibited by paragraph (a), if:

(1) the prospective client has made known to the lawyer a desire not to be solicited by the lawyer;

(2) the solicitation involves coercion, duress, harassment, fraud, overreaching, intimidation or undue influence;

(3) the solicitation concerns an action for personal injury or wrongful death or otherwise relates to an accident or disaster involving the person solicited or a relative of that person unless the accident or disaster occurred more than thirty (30) days prior to the solicitation;

(4) the solicitation concerns a specific matter and the lawyer knows, or reasonably should know, that the person solicited is represented by a lawyer in the matter; or

(5) the lawyer knows, or reasonably should know, that the physical, emotional, or mental state of the person makes it unlikely that the person would exercise reasonable judgment in employing a lawyer.

Trey MillsPartner

Floyd S. “Trey” Mills III knows that suffering a personal injury through no fault of your own can be a nightmare for the victim and…

Floyd S. “Trey” Mills III knows that suffering a personal injury through no fault of your own can be a nightmare for the victim and his or her family

Mr. Mills was born on April 24, 1978. His parents, Floyd S. “Butch” Mills, Jr. and Patricia Yarborough Mills, were originally from Newberry, South Carolina, and soon after the birth of Mr. Mills, his parents brought him back to be raised in the same county they grew up in.

Education

Mr. Mills attended Newberry Academy from grades K-3, Gallman Elementary 4th grade, Rikard Elementary 5-6th grade, Mid-Carolina Middle School 7-8th grades, Mid-Carolina High School from 9-12th grades, Clemson University, and Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University.

Health Crisis

While Mr. Mills was a junior in high school he was chosen by his school to be a representative to Boys State. This was a great honor and would have been an even better experience except, while at Boys State, Mr. Mills became unusually ill with blackouts, night sweats, and back pain. Fortunately for Mr. Mills, his mother was an ER nurse at Lexington Medical Center, but unfortunately, for Mr. Mills that did not change his diagnosis of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. Along with his diagnosis, Mr. Mills received a prognosis of two weeks.

Obviously, Mr. Mills has been blessed with his second chance at life and those who have been wronged by health care insurance companies and other types of insurance companies can feel confident in knowing that Mr. Mills can not only empathize with them but fight fervently for their side. Mr. Mills’ cancer experience and his mother’s arduous yet unsuccessful battle against lung cancer were very trying times. However, those real-world battles and experiences were nothing compared to the administrative and billing wars he had to encounter with Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance. It seems BCBS would deny any charge over $1,000 without rational reasoning therefore prompting Mr. Mills to go to law school and carry the torch for those that were too ill to fight for themselves while the school yard bully beat them down.

College

Mr. Mills went on to Clemson University where he was very active in student activities along with academic accomplishments. Mr. Mills was invited to join Calhoun Honor’s College, Sigma Pi fraternity, Golden Key National Honor Society, Student Government, IPTAY Student Advisory Board, and Tiger Brotherhood. Mr. Mills also worked as a student employee with IPTAY Scholarship Fund under the direction of Bert Henderson, formerly the Associate Athletic Director of Planned Giving at Clemson University.

Early Life

Mr. Mills was unsure of where his hard work and life experiences would best provide an adequate return to the outpouring of kindness he received during his cancer experience. Having received many blessings from the American Red Cross, Mr. Mills went on to be an Apheresis Donor Recruiter under the supervision of Barry Pollard at the American Red Cross Blood Donor Services in Columbia, SC after graduating Clemson University.

Running from his true calling, Mr. Mills fled to Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico to Teach English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). Having spent a semester of college in Madrid, Spain, Mr. Mills thought he should be assisting foreign countries. Mr. Mills was certified by the Vancouver Language Centre in Guadalajara for his TEFL training. Mr. Mills was in Guadalajara only a few months when September 11, 2001 occurred and helped him focus on his life priorities.

Law School

Mr. Mills went on to law school at Mercer University and clerked each summer trying to determine how he could best serve those less fortunate. The corporate law firms never truly provided him with that personal feeling of assisting the common person in need. It wasn’t until Mr. Mills became the first law clerk of the South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association under the supervision of Linda Franklin and lobbyist Michael Gunn that he realized where his education, life experience, drive, and hard work could truly benefit those who have been personally and directly affected by the negligence of another. Mr. Mills wanted to be a coveted and much needed plaintiff’s trial attorney. More importantly Mr. Mills realized the power of the faceless insurance companies, misinformed legislative members, and the true power of money and lobbyist in dictating laws.

What’s the one service you pay for all your life but you are actually penalized if you ever have to use it? Insurance.

Trammell & Mills

Mr. Ernie Trammell gave Mr. Mills his big break at leveling the playing field against the faceless and heartless insurance companies. Mr. Mills works tirelessly every day in an effort to bring justice to those who have been wronged. Mr. Mills has worked on both sides of the law and has been through some harrowing life experiences. Mr. Mills has been tested and tried by many of the more traumatic events that life has to offer and now provides his services to the public.

Who would you rather have on your side? Someone whose resolve has been tested and tried? Or someone who has intertwined their morality and greed in such a way that they can’t tell one from the other?

Why haven’t you hired Mr. Mills to be your attorney yet?

Would you listen to the devil on how to get to Heaven? Then why listen to insurance adjusters?

South Carolina Injury Law Journal

Client Stealing Attorneys, The Worst Kind of Attorney-SC Rules of Professional Conduct

Rule 7.3 Direct Contact with Prospective Clients

Education

Health Crisis

College

Early Life

Law School

Trammell & Mills

Education

Health Crisis

College

Early Life

Law School

Trammell & Mills

About Us