2018 - Legal Ethics Advisor

Texas Bar’s Professional Ethics Committee Advises on Flat Fees

by Dimitrije Canic in Attorney Client Relationship, Attorneys Fees, Ethics Opinion. Posted December 17, 2018

The Texas Bar’s Professional Ethics Committee recently advised that attorneys may renegotiate a flat-fee under certain circumstances with fairness as the overarching guideline.

Doctrine of Apparent Authority May Subject Law Firm to Malpractice Exposure

by Spencer Booth in Attorney Client Relationship, Professionalism, Uncategorized. Posted November 19, 2018

The Indiana Court of Appeals recently reversed summary judgment in the case of Indy Auto Man, LLC, v. Keown & Kratz, LLC, and Dustin Stohler. Doctrine

Florida Bar Proposes A New Standard for Claims of Expertise in Advertisements

by Lauren Alvarez in Advertising, Legal Services, Professionalism. Posted November 17, 2018

Recently, the Florida Bar Board of Governors unanimously voted on a proposal to amendRule 4-7.14, “Potentially Misleading Advertising.”

California Gives Its Rules of Professional Conduct a Facelift

by Natalia Jaramillo in Professionalism. Posted November 10, 2018

Responding to the increasingly multijurisdictional nature of the practice of law, the California Supreme Court undertook the Herculean task of completely restructuring their existing Model Rules of Professional Conduct, bringing them closer to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

Maryland Ethics Committee Addresses the EU citizen’s “Right to be Forgotten”

by Shawn Wilborne in Conflict of Interest, Ethics Opinion, Technology. Posted November 7, 2018

The Maryland State Bar Association’s (MSBA) Ethics Committee responded to attorneys’ concerns regarding the passage of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which became effective earlier this year.

Anti-Discrimination Rule Faces Additional Challenges

by Jose Paez in First Amendment, judges, Professionalism. Posted November 4, 2018

After a pivotal Supreme Court holding, states’ adoption of ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(g) faces an uphill battle. Rule

Advertising 2.0? The ABA Revises Attorney Advertising Rules

by Ten Stallings in Advertising, Advertising Rules, Attorney Client Relationship. Posted October 22, 2018

In an effort to keep up with growing concerns about restrictions on truthful legal ads and lawyer advertising trends regarding cross-border practices, social media, and the internet, the American Bar Association recently published revisions to its ethics rules on lawyer advertising, hoping to promote simplicity and uniformity across the country.

Federal Courts say #MeToo

by Rebekah Molasky in judges, News, Professionalism. Posted October 15, 2018

On September 13, 2018, the 26-member Judicial Conference proposed amendments for public comment from the recommendations contained in the June 2018 Report of the Federal Judiciary Workplace Conduct Working Group.

The Real McCoy: Good Intentions Cannot Overrule Client’s Instructions

by akerr in Attorney Client Relationship. Posted October 12, 2018

Update: The matter of McCoy v. Louisiana first appeared on this blog on October 17, 2017. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide whether a criminal defense attorney is constitutionally permitted to concede his or her client’s guilt over the defendant’s objections.

[…] 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

Yearly Archives: 2018