I'll confess at the start that in the end, law is a business. A service is sold by an attorney to a client and on one level, it’s like waiters’ sales of aperitifs to diners.

Yet, a greater duty is established in an attorney-client relationship. An attorney owes strict confidentiality, loyalty and competence. An attorney owes the client the duty to communicate (not just returning phone calls, but keeping the client fully informed). An attorney owes a client a fiduciary duty; the client’s interests must be treated as the attorney’s own.

The diner can’t demand that treatment from a waiter. A customer at the shop can’t expect it from a clerk.

A client should expect it from her attorney.