Mar 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By John T. Brooks, parther, and Samantha Weissbluth, senior counsel, Foley & Lardner LLP, Chicago

By: By John T. Brooks, parther, and Samantha Weissbluth, senior counsel, Foley & Lardner LLP, Chicago

Lawyers get requests for powers of attorney all the time, and they're easy to churn out and then forget. But beware. Powers of attorney also are very easily abused. So easily, in fact, that the Illinois docket where we practice is flooded with sad tales of elderly women who were taken advantage of. Don't add your clients to that list, for their sake — or yours.

Instead, keep in mind poor old Corrine Rice and her lawyer, Peter Deforest Winthrop, who's now suspended from the practice of law for two years. And make sure you never do anything that remotely resembles Winthrop's actions.

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