TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jul 13, 2022

The Tennessee Supreme Court today issued a public censure to Johnson County lawyer Harvey Randolph Fallin. The court reports that Fallin represented a man charged with first degree murder while also representing the man’s wife, who was charged with conspiracy to commit the same murder. Fallin did not have a written fee agreement with the clients, and did not discuss with them the potential conflict of interest in representing both of them. The court found there was a significant risk that Fallin’s representation of the wife would be materially limited by representation of the husband. In addition, Fallin asked his non-attorney daughter to act as the legal representative under a power of attorney for the two clients. In that capacity, the daughter made at least one payment to Fallin for legal expenses. At no time did Fallin discuss the arrangement with his daughter with his clients. The court found that these actions violated Rules of Professional Conduct 1.7(c)(2), 1.8(a) and 8.4(d).