Categories : Law Practice Management Legal Ethics
“You’re Fired:” Now What?
By Gary Schons
“Wow!” Pete lamented as he walked into his partner Judy’s office. “I just got fired by my client in the Butterfield case.”
Categories : Legal Ethics
Anatomy of an Engagement Agreement: An Overview of the Ethical and Practical Imperatives Requiring an Agreement
You have done your conflict check and are now ready to undertake the representation of a client. For ethical and practical reasons, that representation should be embodied in a written agreement that identifies the undertaking, the terms of the relationship, and all the other facets involved in representing your client.
Categories : Legal Ethics Technology
Cybersecurity, Client Confidences, and ABA Formal Opinion 477R
You work for a boutique firm that handles transactional legal needs. One of the firm’s clients has grown from a successful regional business into a nationwide powerhouse. It has become so successful, in fact, that it recently became the target of a widely reported cyberattack. You spoke with the client contact when that happened, and she confided in you that the company is aware of dozens of attempts to breach its security measures just within the past year.
Categories : Legal Ethics
Avoid the Family Affair: Dangers of Becoming the Go-To Lawyer for Family and Friends
By David Cameron Carr
Graduation from law school and admission to the bar is a happy event for the new lawyer. It is also a happy event for the new lawyer’s family and friends, many of whom have supported the new lawyer through the long and strenuous journey to that special status, usually emotionally, often financially.
Categories : Legal Ethics
Candor Always Works
By Edward McIntyre
Cartoon by George Brewster Jr.
Categories : Legal Ethics
Sharing Offices and Vicarious Disqualification: You’ve Gotta Keep It Separated
Brand new attorneys starting their own practice have a lot of decisions to make, and a lot of those decisions involve overhead. Should I hire a secretary? Do I work out of my house, or should I rent office space? If I’m renting, where do I locate my office?
Categories : Legal Ethics
Associates Do Not Get a Free Pass from Abiding by the Rules of Professional Conduct by Following a Partner’s Direction
Back in 2013, Ethics in Brief reported on the decision in Jay v. Mahaffey (2013) 218 Cal. App. 4th 1522 where an associate, working under supervision of a senior attorney, failed in her attempt to dismiss a malicious prosecution action. This publication noted an important statement from the Court of Appeal:
Categories : Legal Ethics
Ethical Issues When Your Client Threatens to Harm Themselves
By Michael Crowley
Most criminal defense attorneys, along with attorneys in other areas of practice, have encountered the situation where a client says something to the effect of, “I would rather die” than face some other outcome. Such a statement may trigger certain obligations by counsel under California’s legal ethics rules, which vary from much of the rest of the country.
Categories : Current Topics Legal Ethics
The Onslaught of News Regarding Accusations of Sexual Harassment Also Highlight Core Attorney Ethical Duties to Their Clients
Attorney David Boies, founding partner of Boies Schiller Flexner, is well known for high-profile litigation including representing Al Gore in the 2000 recount litigation that culminated in the Supreme Court decision that handed the presidency to George W. Bush and later teaming with Theodore B. Olson, his adversary in Bush v. Gore, to successively challenge California’s ban on same-sex marriage.
Categories : Legal Ethics
Advance Payments Are Not True Retainers Under 3-700(D)(2)
My phone rang one fateful day last week, and I answered to the voice of my ecstatic friend: