The wrongful-conduct rule “operates to deny relief if the claim is based on the plaintiff's illegal conduct, a casual connection exists between that conduct and the damages sought, and the defendant is not more culpable than the plaintiff.” Varela, 329 Mich App at 83 (holding the wrongful-conduct rule was applicable to ...
A letter of engagement serves the same purpose as a contract between two parties. However, its format is less formal than a contract and it generally avoids legal jargon. A letter of engagement is a legal document. It is binding in a business deal.
As to protection of client interests, Rule 3.7 is essentially an application of the conflict of interest principle. If the lawyer (or a member of the lawyer's firm) must give testimony that is either adverse or ambivalent with respect to the client's cause, the case may be damaged.
Meanwhile, MRPC 3.3 provides that a lawyer must not knowingly make a false statement of material fact or law to a tribunal or fail to disclose controlling authority or offer evidence known to be false.
1 A lawyer is required to be truthful when dealing with others on a client's behalf, but generally has no affirmative duty to inform an opposing party of relevant facts. A misrepresentation can occur if the lawyer incorporates or affirms a statement of another person that the lawyer knows is false.
Rule 1.7 - Conflict of Interest: General Rule (a) A lawyer shall not represent a client if the representation of that client will be directly adverse to another client, unless: (1) the lawyer reasonably believes the representation will not adversely affect the relationship with the other client; and (2) each client ...
Rule 1.0 - Scope and Applicability of Rules and Commentary (a) These are the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct. The form of citation for this rule is MRPC 1.0.
Certified Mail requires a signature upon delivery, which can be requested by the sender in order to check that the letter has been delivered to the right person.
In summary, both the auditing firm and the organization being audited must sign the SOC report, with the organization signing the Management Assertion and Representation and the auditor signing the independent Auditors opinion within the SOC report.
For an engagement letter to be binding, there must be agreement to the terms on both sides. The engagement letter is drafted and, in most cases, signed by the firm, therefore there is clear evidence of the agreement of the contents of the letter on the firm's side.