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By letter dated January 29, 1988, Mr. Chicoine sent
Mr. Kersting copies of proposed stipulated decisions reflecting
settlements that Mr. Chicoine had negotiated with Mr. McWade in
three Kersting cases.42 Mr. Chicoine stated that Chicoine and
Hallett were obliged to inform all Kersting program participants
who had retained his firm that Mr. McWade was continuing to offer
settlements despite Mr. Kersting's misrepresentations in his
letters to Kersting program participants that no settlement was
being offered.
By letter dated February 5, 1988, John A. Strait, Associate
Professor of Law at the University of Puget Sound School of Law
(Professor Strait), responded to Chicoine and Hallett's request
for an expert opinion regarding their ethical obligations as
counsel in the Kersting project. Professor Strait advised
Chicoine and Hallett that the firm did not have an attorney/
client relationship with, or owe attorney/client duties to,
Mr. Kersting, but that Chicoine and Hallett did have an
attorney/client relationship with the test case petitioners as
well as the nontest case Kersting program participants who had
sent Chicoine and Hallett the $550 retainer and authorization
forms. Concerning the nontest case clients, Professor Strait
concluded that Chicoine and Hallett were obliged to "evaluate
settlement proposals and to transmit to them your recommendation
42 Mr. Chicoine's letter identified the taxpayers as
Muller, Lipsky, and Mellows. The record does not reflect the
terms of the settlements in these cases.
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