Categories
. Legal ethics

10 Things I Thought I Would Write About This July, But Didn’t.

So, anyone I might have hooked into caring about this site in May and June 2021 likely stopped checking for July content 1 or 2 weeks ago. Longer-term, repeatedly neglected, readers are likely still hanging in there (and forever earning my esteem). There have been a bunch of times that I thought I was going […]

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. Legal ethics

Someone finally faces consequences for gaslighting all of us.

So, if you’re here at any point today or tomorrow, you are likely someone who has already heard the news of Rudy Giuliani, attorney for the former POTUS, being suspended from the practice of law in New York. A copy of the 30+ page opinion imposing an interim suspension on Mr. Giuliani is available at […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

It is, very often, anti-social media.

You may recall that not too long ago I wrote a bit about a Tennessee Supreme Court opinion that I thought was a bit wrongly-framed from its opening sentence. It was the one that was really about why lawyers shouldn’t help people try to plan and cover up crimes but started: “This case is a […]

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. Legal ethics

An ode (of sorts) to RPC 1.18 (but only as an example)

Today’s entry is something of a dodge in a way (I sort of wanted to pile on about this and make the point that it is a much sounder development than this was) and something of knocking down a hastily-created strawman in another respect. But what it mostly amounts to is pursuing a not-yet-fully-formed thesis […]

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. Legal ethics

Honestly, transparency is all that we need.

This week I was fortunate enough to be included as part of a presentation on debating issues of regulatory reform in a Plenary at the ABA National Conference on Professional Responsibility I recorded my 3-minute presentation a couple of months ago and spent a lot of time looking forward to how it would be received. […]

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. Legal ethics

Third Time’s a Charm?

Do you have a lawyer in your life who has everything, and you don’t know what to get them for a Memorial Day present? (What, you say this isn’t a gift giving holiday weekend? Instead, it’s a solemn occasion and not really something to be celebrated in the sense of gift giving? Fair point.) I’ll […]

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. Legal ethics

The world needs a “healthy dose” of lots of things.

Frankly, civil behavior by lawyers toward other lawyers certainly is on the list of things the world needs a healthy dose of, but, well, let’s just say maybe it’s not a top-10 item on the list. So, the point of today’s post is not to be the guy who claims that lawyers shouldn’t have to […]

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. Legal ethics

Main(e)ly an excuse for book promotion.

So, before offering up the actual ethics content, if like me you know you’re not quite hitting on all cylinders but you are functional and you haven’t already read that New York Times article that made the rounds about “languishing.” I’d recommend it. You can still get to the article at this link. You might […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

Update on racial insensitivity within the practice of law.

It still exists, of course. No real surprises there. In just the last two weeks, there have been multiple stories that drive that point home. One such story, while admittedly actually involving a sitting judge rather than a practicing lawyer, is this one out of Colorado. Another such story involves a New York lawyer who […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

California proposes an ethics opinion that needs further workshopping.

Let’s talk for a bit today about a proposed California ethics opinion for which public comment is being accepted until June 8, 2021. The general topic when you hear about the proposed opinion is immediately of interest — can a lawyer help a client obtain a contractual agreement including a provision that is against the […]