We Cannot Vouch For Documents Made By Others
Our law firm, like most others, cannot vouch for the competency, effectiveness, or how “good” documents made by other people are, even if they were prepared by a licensed attorney. Below are just a few reasons why:
Professional Concerns: Lawyers are responsible for their own work. By vouching for another lawyer's document, lawyers could be held liable for any errors, omissions, or misinterpretations in the document — even if that document was created by someone else.
Lack of Familiarity with the Underlying Case: A legal document is only as good as the understanding of the facts. A lawyer reviewing another's document may not have the same deep knowledge of the client's situation or the specific nuances of the case. This lack of context makes it difficult to fully assess the document's accuracy and effectiveness.
Different Drafting Styles and Legal Interpretations: Lawyers have different writing styles, approaches to legal analysis, and interpretations of the law. What one lawyer finds acceptable, another might find inadequate or even incorrect. Vouching for a document implies agreement with its content and approach.
Ethical Considerations: Lawyers have a duty to exercise independent professional judgment on behalf of their clients. By endorsing another lawyer's work without thorough review and independent analysis, they may be compromising their duty to provide competent and diligent representation. This thorough review and independent analysis of a Will and Trust, typically takes a lot more time (and is therefore more expensive) than doing a new Will and Trust.
Time Constraints and Cost: Thoroughly reviewing and vouching for a legal document requires significant time and effort. The cost of doing so is often prohibitive for the client.
Client Expectations: A client might misunderstand what it means for a lawyer to "vouch" for a document. They might believe it is a guarantee of a certain outcome, which is something lawyers cannot ethically or practically provide.
In summary, we at Yu & Yu Law cannot vouch for any documents created outside of our law firm.
We can review your documents for you on an hourly rate retainer to answer specific questions you may have.
As a matter of policy — and for your protection — we will not amend/update legal documents made by other persons while vouching for the underlying document.
Our ability is limited to making the amendment you wish. Whether the rest of the underlying document will allow for such an amendment to be enforceable in the future is something we cannot vouch for nor comment on.