The Whole Law:

A Whole Law Example: When counseling a startup, we counsel the client on the tax implications of an exit from the business as well as estate planning.

Two ready examples of failing to practice the whole law always come to mind:

The first is what happened to Gordon Ralph:

Cora Buckowich raised money using the lure of spectacular profits. She promised that an investment of $500,000 placed in overseas "bank note trading programs" would grow to $93 million within three months. The offer was ludicrous; a promise of extravagant returns is a signal of fraud (and it also should have posed the question why, if Buckowich had such amazing opportunities, she would allow the profits to go to strangers rather than reaping them herself). Yet Gordon Ralph was taken in; and the oddity that a well-to-do person would be such a sucker was compounded by the fact that Ralph had his lawyer William Wylie represent him in the transaction. How any competent attorney could have failed to protect his client from this scam is a mystery, but Wylie and his partner Grant Markuson seem to have been more naive than Ralph. At least Ralph knew that he needed professional assistance. Wylie and Markuson not only failed to steer Ralph away from the fraud but also did not keep tabs on the money. Buckowich used a series of bank transfers to spirit the funds from Markuson's lax supervision during a trip to London for the supposed closing. By the time prosecutors caught up with her, Buckowich had spent the proceeds and could not make restitution.

United States of America v Buckowich

 

The second is what happened to Dale Randall Goebel, which was even worse.  He ended up in jail when his bankruptcy attorney failed to tell him that he could not collect $15,000 due on a construction project and not pay the men who furnished the materials and labor on the project.

Goebel v. Lauderdale