PRACTICE PRINCIPLES OF ROBERT SAINBURG, COUNSELOR AT LAW

---

I am morally driven. I do not and will not act immorally.  I do and will reject immoral ends.   Morality is a subjective idea and will be determined by me alone.

I am honest.   I will act honestly.  I will not act dishonestly.  I will not participate in dishonesty.   I will not turn a blind eye to dishonesty. 

I act legally.  I will not act illegally.  I will not be a criminal.  I will not participate in criminal actions.

I act ethically.  I will not act unethically.  I will act ethically even if acting unethically will lead to a better result for you.  I will act ethically even if it requires my withdrawal from representation within ethical parameters and requirements. 

I will be fully compensated for my services.   I do not provide credit.   I work only on deposit.   If a deposit or payment is not timely paid, I initiate the withdrawal process.

I will serve your ends. You determine your ends.  I may express concern or doubts about your chosen ends but I will never dictate to you what ends you are to decide.   I may reject initial engagement or continuing engagement if you insist on ends that I will not agree to pursue.  

I decide the means.  I encourage you to express any input you have on the means to be employed to achieve your ends but I alone will decide upon the means to achieve your ends.   You may reject initial engagement or continuing engagement if you cannot accept the means that I insist upon employing or the means that you insist on me employing that I decline to employ.

I will be loyal to you and to your ends.  I will not betray you or your interests.   This principle applies beyond termination of our engagement and for eternity.

I am a professional.  I will act professionally in carrying out my responsibilities to you.  I will not act unprofessionally even if you want me to act unprofessionally.

You will be engaged with me as a core part of the litigation team and in accomplishing your ends.  It is never relevant that you have paid me as to your obligation to be fully engaged as a team member.  You pay me to join your team, not to be your team.

I require mutual trust.  If you distrust me or I distrust you, I will not accept your cause or continue your cause.   It is not the absence of blind trust or mistrust that violates this principle but the existence of active distrust that violates this principle.

I require mutual respect.   If you disrespect me or I cannot respect you, I will not accept your cause or continue your cause.   A single instance of disrespect may not be enough to violate this principle unless particularly aggravated, but a pattern of it probably will.

I will act in consideration of the following six intertwined factors:  

a. Excellence: Only excellence in service and work product will be provided.  Competent service is not my floor - excellence is my floor.

b. Quantity: I will generate the quantity of work product required for the strategy and tactics adopted to achieve your ends.

c. Speed:   Services and work product will be provided without undue delay.

d. Strategy: All services and work product will be provided within the context of a chosen strategy towards achievement of your ends.

e. Tactics: All services and work product will be provided within the context of chosen tactics that further the chosen strategy for your cause. 

f. Logistics:   I will have adequate resources for the provision of my services and work product.

I will provide my services with passion and zeal.  I will not simply go through the motions nor simply apply what I learned in law school to your case like a robot.

I will be polite and civil in my communications and actions.

I will maintain my objectivity in pursuing your ends.  Your emotions are not my emotions.

I will approach each of my clients holistically.  I will neither operate with blinders to extra-legal factors that may be relevant to my engagement or to extra-legal solutions that may be relevant to your chosen ends.

I will always be grateful and humbled by your engagement.  

I will fulfill my responsibilities to you irrespective of adverse consequences to my reputation, my comfort, my convenience, or any other selfish concerns.

I will protect my own interests - professional, financial, family, legally, morally, and in all other respects.