Marcus disclosed the conflict, secured written consent, and recommended the family hire a different lawyer to determine whether they should trust this one.
Marcus R., the M. family's attorney, has agreed to also serve as trustee of their Bitcoin trust — an arrangement he has disclosed, documented, and, in writing, formally assured everyone is completely fine.
The dual role makes Marcus both the person who drafts the rules and the person who follows them — a situation the bar association regards with the warmth it usually reserves for fire.
Accordingly, Marcus disclosed the conflict in writing, obtained the family's written consent, and — per the rules — recommended they consult an entirely different attorney about whether to trust the first attorney's recommendation that he be trusted.
"I advised them to get independent advice about my advice," Marcus explained. "The second lawyer agreed with me, which I would, of course, advise treating with suspicion."
The paperwork documenting that Marcus can be trusted now runs longer than the section of the trust describing what he will actually do.
It is standard practice. It is also, on paper, a man notarizing his own trustworthiness.
Everything above is satire. Here is how it actually goes when you fix it.
Why this is normal — and why the paperwork exists
Attorney-trustees are common and entirely legitimate; lawyers do it cleanly every day. They're also one of the most regulated relationships in the bar's rulebook, because the potential for self-dealing is obvious. Most states require written disclosure of the dual role, written client consent, and a recommendation to consult independent counsel — and a few (California most pointedly) require a different attorney to draft the documents naming the first as trustee. The disclosure isn't bureaucracy; it's there for the family's protection.
How bitcoin-assistance helps
This one is mostly the attorney's domain — the assistant gives no legal or ethics advice. Where it helps is keeping the technical roles transparent: bitcoin-assistance records who holds which key in the vault, so the trustee's actual power over the Bitcoin is visible and on the record. And because the vault requires the family together, no single person — trustee included — can move the funds alone. That's a structural check that sits alongside the legal one: the attorney discloses the conflict; the vault makes sure no one quietly holds all the power.
The paperwork says you can trust him. The vault means you don't have to trust any one person completely. Both are good. Together they're better.
Background, not legal or ethics advice. Dual-role rules vary by state and are handled by a licensed attorney. See The Paper Side.