By Charles Berwanger
The purpose of this article is to provide a skeletal outline of the State Bar’s disciplinary process and recommendations for dealing with it.
By Katie Parker
Imagine the scenario – you’ve met with a potential client, and he has a promising personal injury case. You’re excited to take it on. You’ve just started building your PI practice, and this case looks like a great next step for you. But, your initial conversations have raised a few concerns. In particular, you fear you may have some “client control” issues, and you worry he may present difficulties when it comes to agreeing to a reasonable settlement proposal. As you spoke with him, you sensed more than a bit of stubbornness, and he seemed to have strong opinions about the law and the value of his case.
By Stacy Plotkin-Wolff
You are sitting at your desk, organizing the many tasks for the three trials scheduled next month, your family obligations, and your volunteer work. You wonder how you will get it all done when you receive an email inviting you to be an attorney scorer at the mock trial competition finals. Shortly after, your supervisor enters your office and wants you to take on two more high-profile cases. What do you do? You are ambitious, have a strong work ethic, and hate saying no. You want to take on those new opportunities, but can you handle all of them without violating your ethical duties?
By Anne Rudolph
Rule 1.15, titled “Safekeeping Funds and Property of Clients and Other Persons” directs in paragraph (a) that all funds received or held by a lawyer or law firm for the benefit of a client … including advances for fees, costs and expenses, shall be deposited in a client trust account.
By Charles Berwanger
The reader is asked to picture a fictional settlement conference of a lawsuit. Present is the client representative, defendant Ajax Corporation’s General Counsel, and Ajax’s Defense Counsel. They are in a breakout room while the mediator talks with Plaintiff’s Counsel and plaintiff in another breakout room.
By Michael J. Crowley
Blame it on former torts megastar Tom Girardi and his confederates, coupled with his wife, Erika Jayne, star of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Girardi’s alleged theft of millions from clients’ trust accounts led to adverse publicity, and a push from the California legislature which led to action by the State Bar instituting the so-called “snitch rule.” Rule of Professional Conduct 8.3. We all suffer due to the actions of a few.
By Edward McIntyre
You’re approached after church one Sunday. “Would you serve on a board the church has established to oversee church finances?” Cornered, you reluctantly agree. “But even though I’m a lawyer, I won’t serve as the board’s or church’s lawyer. Clear?” “Yes, quite clear.”
By Katie Parker
As noted in a recent Ethics in Brief column (here), an attorney’s persistent lack of civility can have concrete financial consequences. In the case at issue there, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s reliance on lack of civility in reducing an attorney’s fee award. The Court observed that plaintiff’s counsel’s “beratement of opposing counsel and belittling of the trial court were unnecessary to advocate zealously” on his client’s behalf. Snoeck v. ExakTime Innovations, Inc., 96 Cal. App. 5th 908, 925 (2023).
By Alara Chilton
When a client files or threatens to file a State Bar complaint alleging a lawyer’s ethical misconduct, a lawyer may be tempted to impede a State Bar investigation by seeking to negotiate an agreement that shields the lawyer from the State Bar’s ability to investigate and prosecute a lawyer’s ethical misconduct. Such agreements are intended to ensure a client’s or former client’s silence regarding the alleged misconduct. However, a lawyer’s efforts to enter into such an agreement may run afoul of Business and Professions Code section 6090.5.
By Valerie Silverman Massey
Scenario: As a senior or supervising attorney, you are preparing to file a document with a court. A more junior attorney prepares the document using prior office writings/research or conducting new research and preparing the document from scratch. Your name is on the caption and the signature line.
