I have beaten the drum for many, many years now about lawyers not understanding the true scope of their obligation of confidentiality under rules patterned after ABA Model Rule 1.6. The ability to quickly share information far and wide online has not been helpful to lawyers who lack that understanding. I remain astounded at how […]
Category: .
Although today is Halloween in my part of the world, I am not offering any spooky content. I thought about trying to replace all mentions of Maryland in this post with Scaryland, but that just seemed like I was trying too hard. In fact, I’m a bit torn about even writing about this particular topic […]
So, I am certain you have heard by now that a little under a week ago the ABA issued a new Formal Ethics Opinion to address the ethical obligations of lawyers in the aftermath of a cyber-attack or an electronic data breach. ABA Opinion 483 makes for a good read and provides good guidance about […]
Almost exactly three months ago, I wrote about what I considered to be a very disturbing ruling in a lawyer admissions case in Ohio. If you missed that post, you can read it here. I’m pleased to write, in follow-up today, that the Ohio Supreme Court has ultimately gotten to the correct outcome – it […]
I’m interested in writing today about two recent ethics opinions that manage to go together quite nicely. Utah Ethics Adv. Op. 18-04 and Texas Professional Ethics Committee Op. 679. Both involve RPC 1.8 (or at least both should). And, not only does neither opinion do a very good job with the subject matter it tackles […]
So there are things that can really make you feel small. And there are things that can really lead to despair and a feeling of helplessness. Fortunately, there are few things that do both at once. The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change can do both of those things pretty simply. If you […]
The pun was, of course, inevitable. It was also fully intended. In fact, it is, at least for me, repetitive as back in 2013 I was asked to do a seminar on the ethics of being a notary public — they have their own ethics code — and I called it “Notary-ly Common Topic: The […]
Categories
Neither a stalker nor a burglar be.
Matters of the heart have caused people lots of problems throughout the course of human history. Matters of the heart, when the heart is located inside the chest of a lawyer, work pretty much the same way. Of course, sometimes stories that, on the surface, seem like matters of the heart might be more fairly […]
Although I live in SEC country, I am a Chelsea FC fan rather than a follower of college football. So this is not a sly college football reference in my title. (I am aware that apparently UT lost its first game of the season but have literally no idea whether the Cornhuskers have even played […]
I’m really, truly not trying to fall into the habit of only managing one post a week. As proof, here’s a post about a Tennessee lawyer who couldn’t/wouldn’t follow the rules. It is a fascinating case study for at least two reasons. One is that discipline for conflicts of interest is, all things considered, relatively […]