1 Advising or Assisting the Violation of Law Rule 1.3 Diligence Rule 1.4 Communication with Clients Rule 1.4. The SDCBA's Legal Ethics Committee issues advisory opinions regarding the ethical propriety of hypothetical attorney conduct.Rule 1.1 Competence. (a) A lawyer shall not intentionally, recklessly, with gross negligence, or repeatedly fail to perform legal services with competence. This article provides a primer on how to end the attorney-client relationship ethically. Hiring a lawyer is the beginning of a relationship, and the strength of that relationship is crucial to a winning case. Garcia Hong Law has counseled lawyers who are preparing to leave a law firm and represented departing lawyers who face litigation from their prior law firms. Neither the website nor use of information from the website creates an attorneyclient relationship. First, send a formal written request to your attorney, reiterating your demand for the complete client file, including all email communications. The use of the Internet or this form for communication with the firm or any individual member of the firm does not establish an attorney-client relationship.