Category: Legal Ethics

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Don’t Try to Contract Around the Rules of Professional Conduct (a Cautionary Tale)

On By krobinson

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.   Read More

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Ethics in Brief — Balancing Ambition and Ethics: Knowing When to Say No as an Attorney

On By krobinson

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?  Read More

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Ethics in Brief: A Flat Fee Does Not Belong to an Attorney Until the Legal Services are Actually Performed

On By krobinson

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. Read More

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Ethics in Brief: Rule of Professional Conduct 5.6: It Is Unethical to Restrict the Right of a Lawyer to Practice

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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. Read More

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Ethics in Brief: The “Snitch Rule” is now the Law, Under the Rules of Professional Conduct

On By krobinson

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. Read More

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Ethics in Brief: How to be Civil — State and Federal Codes of Conduct Provide Guidance

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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). Read More

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Ethics in Brief: Ethical Pitfalls Arise When Pursuing a Client Agreement that Impedes a State Bar Investigation

On By krobinson

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.  Read More

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Ethics in Brief: Caputo – A Cautionary Tale with Costly Consequences

On By krobinson

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.  Read More

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Ethics in Brief: The First Amendment on Trial in State Bar Court

On By krobinson

By David C. Carr

Introduction

The First Amendment guarantees free speech, which is one of our most cherished freedoms. Yet, as we all know, it is not absolute. Recently, the First Amendment has played a more significant role in the jurisprudence of lawyer discipline. Lawyers, after all, are speech warriors. Fueled by new and more effective modes of communication and the breakdown in norms of restraint, First Amendment issues are coming to the surface more often in State Bar Court. This leads to different results as the nuances of the First Amendment collide with the professional obligations of the lawyers. This edition of “Ethics in Brief” briefly examines three recent decisions of the State Bar Court where the First Amendment was raised as a defense. Read More