Category: Legal Ethics

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Pick the Wrong Test, Be Held in Contempt

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By Edward McIntyre

A Central District of California grand jury issued subpoenas to a company and its lawyers related to a criminal investigation of the company’s owner, also a client of the lawyers. The subpoenas sought documents and communications related to that criminal investigation, the target of which was the company’s owner. The company and the lawyers produced some documents, but withheld others based on assertions of the attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine. Prosecutors pressed the issue. The district court (Hon. John Kronstadt) determined that the withheld documents were not protected by any privilege or were discoverable under the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege. The company and the law firm disagreed with the court’s rulings and continued to withhold the disputed documents. The court then held the lawyers and the company in contempt because they failed to comply with grand jury subpoenas.  Read More

Categories : For New Attorneys For the Record Law Practice Legal EthicsTags :

Legal Ethics for New Attorneys: Trump’s Attorneys’ Fiasco

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Legal Ethics for New Attorneys: Trump’s Attorneys’ Fiasco

Time for a Review of an Attorney’s Ethical Duties to Tell the Truth, Show Candor Toward the Tribunal, Provide Counsel Only on Legal or Just Matters, and File Only Meritorious Claims and Contentions

By Richard Hendlin
Attorney at Law

As judges around the country weigh how to hold accountable the lawyers who abused the courts to advance former President Trump’s frivolous challenges to the 2020 election, two recent cases are particularly instructive for attorneys who wish to comply with their ethical responsibilities. These cases also present a good opportunity to review various State Bar Act provisions and the California Rules of Profession Conduct [CRPC] that are potentially implicated by these recent developments. Read More

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Release of The “Pandora Papers” is a Good Reminder of Attorney Duties Where There is a High Probability a Client is Seeking Advice to Commit a Crime

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By Andrew A. Servais

With the recent release of the “Pandora Papers,” renewed attention is focused on corporate ownership transparency. The so-called Pandora Papers release from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has outlined the elaborate mechanisms that the wealthy deploy to shift funds between global jurisdictions, masking their true wealth and minimizing their tax obligations while also unmasking the U.S. as a tax haven — including the state of South Dakota with its proliferation of “dynasty trusts.” Read More

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ABA Formal Opinion 499 Provides Critical Guidance for Attorneys Considering Investment in Jurisdictions Allowing Nonlawyer Ownership of Law Firms

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By Andrew A. Servais

California Rule of Professional Conduct and ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 5.4 feature a number of prohibitions designed to preserve the professional independence of lawyers, including prohibiting the sharing of legal fees with a nonlawyer, forming a partnership with a nonlawyer (if any of the activities of the partnership consist of the practice of law), and practicing in a business structure in which a nonlawyer owns any interest in the business or serves as a corporate director or officer. Read More

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Legal Ethics for New Attorneys: Recent State Bar Attorney Disciplinary Actions, Commonalities of Rules Violations

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Legal Ethics for New Attorneys: Recent State Bar Attorney Disciplinary Actions

Commonalities of Rules Violations

By Charles V. Berwanger
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP

In the past several months, the State Bar of California has disbarred or suspended the license to practice law of at least 10 California attorneys. There are common themes threading their way through the disciplinary findings in each of these cases that are important for practitioners to consider. The purpose of this article is to identify some of those themes. Read More

Categories : Law Practice Legal EthicsTags :

The Ethical Implications of Representing a Minor Whose Guardian Ad Litem is Not Serving the Best Interests of the Minor

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By Richard D. Hendlin

This Ethics in Brief article arises from a recent inquiry I received through the SDCBA Legal Ethics Hotline (phone: 619.231.0781×4145) involving an attorney who posed the hypothetical question of whether an attorney who represents a minor with a guardian ad litem [GAL] could ethically petition the superior court to remove the GAL who the attorney believes is not following the attorney’s advice and not acting in the minor’s best interests? Read More

Categories : August-2021 For New Attorneys For the Record Legal EthicsTags :

Navigating the Ethical Landmines of Handling Your Own Appeal

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Navigating the Ethical Landmines of Handling Your Own Appeal 

By Jeff Michalowski 
Paul, Plevin, Sullivan &
Connaughton LLP

No trial attorney is perfect.  Even the most prepared and experienced trial attorneys should expect their adversaries to attack not just their clients’ actions and inactions, but also claimed missteps by the trial attorneys themselves.  This is especially evident in appeals, where parties regularly argue that issues have been waived or forfeited; that deadlines have bene missed; or decry alleged attorney misconduct in the trial court below.  Read More