April 2017 - Legal Ethics Advisor

Florida Proposes Adding Rule Regarding Short-Term Limited Legal Service Programs

by Ellen Kruk in Featured, Legal Services. Posted April 21, 2017

Recently, the Florida Bar Board of Governors submitted a petition to the Florida Supreme Court to amend several Rules Regulating the Florida Bar. The proposal includes the addition of new Rule 4-6.6: Short-Term Limited Legal Services Programs. Proposes

Show Me The Money: Lawyers May Withdraw If Not Paid Fees

by Haley Moss in Attorneys Fees, Ethics Opinion, Featured. Posted April 20, 2017

The American Bar Association released Formal Opinion 476, which addresses whether a lawyer can withdraw from a civil case because a client failed to pay the lawyer’s fees, without jeopardizing the duty of confidentiality and balancing this with information that the Court would need to consider granting a lawyer’s motion to withdraw. Money

Bar Admission Rule Challenge Joins String of Defeats

by MelissaScott in Featured, News. Posted April 19, 2017

In its latest attempt to lessen barriers to multijurisdictional practice, the National Association for the Advancement of Multijurisdiction Practice (“NAAMJP”) challenged specific bar admission conditions for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, delineated in the identical text of Local Civil Rule 83.8 and Local Criminal Rule 57.21, violate statutory and constitutional legal standards.

Privileged PR? Not This Time, Says California Court

by Nicole Chipi in Featured, News. Posted April 18, 2017

In the first decision of its kind in the state, a California appellate court may have opened the door to extending attorney-client privilege to a litigant’s public relations team. Privileged

Public Defenders and Part-time Judges: Duties under the Misconduct Rule

by Elizabeth Gil in Ethics Opinion, Featured, News, Professionalism. Posted April 17, 2017

Recently, the New York State Bar Association (N.Y.S.B.A.) Committee on Professional Ethics held that a public defender may not represent a client in the court where another public defender is a part-time judge because to do so would violate the public defender’s duties under Rule 8.4(f)—Misconduct. Defenders

Illinois: Don’t Be Quick To Dispose Client Closed Files

by SabrinaRishmague in Ethics Opinion, Featured. Posted April 17, 2017

According to a recent opinion from the Illinois Bar Association’s Ethics Committee, an attorney can usually dispose of closed client files after seven years without trying to locate the clients and give them advance notice.

A Co-Counsel Must Receive Notice When Shared Fee Is Received

by Marissa Shulman in Attorneys Fees, Ethics Opinion, Featured. Posted April 16, 2017

The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professionalism issued Formal Opinion 475, which discusses the issue of safeguarding attorneys’ fees that are subject to splitting with co-counsel. Notice

Required to Report a Client’s Drug Addiction? Illinois Says Not Necessarily…

by Nicole Comparato in Ethics Opinion, Featured. Posted April 14, 2017

A recent Illinois ethics opinion, advised that although a lawyer is obligated to reveal confidential information about a client if is deemed reasonably necessary to prevent certain death or substantial bodily harm, a client’s addiction to heroin or opioid drugs will not trigger that obligation, absent more specific factual details that indicate the risk is not simply remote and uncertain.

Zealous Advocacy Gone Too Far: Louisiana Attorney is Disbarred for Repeated “Shocking Disregard” of Obligations

by Carlos Alvarez in Featured, News, Professionalism. Posted April 12, 2017

In a recent per curium opinion, the Louisiana Supreme Court found an attorney to have permanently forfeited his ability to practice law in the state due to “a panoply of serious professional violations.” Zealous

The American Bar Association (ABA) Offers Access to “Cybersecurity” Insurance

by William Golden in Featured, Legal Services, News. Posted April 10, 2017

This addition comes after the increasing number of firms that have fallen victim to hackers. The purchase and retention of cybersecurity insurance would assist lawyers in following 2012 changes to Model Rule 1.1 Competence found in the Rule’s comments.

[…] of a non-binding advisory opinion, as has been the case with other jurisdictions such as, Florida, San Francisco, and Delaware, it is important to note that Ohio went a step further and amended its rule regarding […]

Remote Lawyering: New Jersey and Ohio On Board - Legal Ethics Advisor on Remote Work: San Francisco Bar Association Advice in Ethics Opinion 2021-1
Not all jurisdictions have adopted the Model Rule version of the choice of law rule; seems like there might be a different result in at least some of those states. See, e.g., NY RPC 8.5(b)(2)(i) ("If the lawyer is licensed to practice only in this state, the rules to be applied shall be the rules of this state").

Art Lachman on ABA Opinion 499 Green Lights Lawyers’ Passive Investment in Firms with NonLawyer Ownership

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Monthly Archives: April 2017