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the attorney’s essential role as a fiduciary charged with
safekeeping his client’s property and interests. See Okla. Stat.
Ann., tit. 5, ch. 1, app. 3-A, R. 1.15 (West 2001). Due to the
fiduciary nature of an attorney’s relationship to his client, we
cannot treat petitioner’s possession of the materials as prima
facie evidence of his ownership. Petitioner’s uncontested
possession of the materials neither proves ownership nor
establishes petitioners’ eligibility for a charitable
contribution deduction with regard to their donation of the
materials.
Respondent argues that general principles of agency law and
ethical rules governing the conduct of attorneys establish that
petitioner did not own the materials and was not entitled to
dispose of them. Respondent contends that petitioner received
the materials as an agent of McVeigh during the course of
defending McVeigh in his trial for the Oklahoma City bombing and
that the materials thus belong to McVeigh, not petitioner.
Petitioners maintain that general agency law is inapplicable to
this case and that, although his clients may possess a right of
access to information in their case files, petitioner, as
attorney, is the rightful owner of his clients’ case files.
Alternatively, petitioners argue that, even if we hold that
clients own their case files under Oklahoma law, attorneys are
entitled to keep copies of their clients’ case files, and,
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