Categories
. Legal ethics

Two For Tuesday For Tennessee

From time to time I feel a real obligation to write about things that are primarily (if not exclusively) only of interest to Tennessee lawyers. Today is one of those days so apologies in advance if this is not your cup of tea. (On the upside for you, this will be relatively short so you […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

A teachable moment to make your eyes water.

When you spend a lot of time consulting with and advising lawyers, finding teachable moments from examples of things that happen in real life are extremely helpful. The world can be filled with teachable moments. On a non-ethics front, here is one: If you don’t pay attention to when a credit card has a new […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

A recipe for ethical lawyering?

Now that the Ethics Roadshow is complete in all of the cities where it was staged, I want to repackage the main idea from this year into a post and make a similar ask of my readers that I made of the attendees as to feedback on the point. The title of the Roadshow this […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

Asking for a conflict waiver is a step that is hard to take back.

Look, I understand too little too late I realize there are things you say and do You can never take back But what would you be if you didn’t even try You have to try So after a lot of thought I’d like to reconsider Please If it’s not too late Make it a cheeseburger – […]

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. Legal ethics

Litigating your own work product – a tricky (at best) topic.

So, first things first, I am thoroughly surprised and incredibly honored to have made it into the ABA Journal’s 2018 Web 100.  If you are here for the first time because this happened, thanks for reading and feel free to look around as there is 3+ years of content you can read while you are […]

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Judicial Ethics

One thing that lawyers and judges have in common.

People often think of lawyers and judges differently.  And, to a large extent, they should.  In almost every situation, someone cannot become a judge without having been a lawyer first.  But once a lawyer transforms into a judge, their role in the judicial system becomes radically different and they now have a new set of […]

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. Legal ethics

The intersection of the ethics rules and the GDPR “right to be forgotten”

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 […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

Can’t stop, won’t stop. Now … full stop.

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 […]

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. Legal ethics

RPC 5.6 and settlement agreements: The TN BPR messes up another ethics opinion.

This is not truly a development that merits the “Bad Ethics Opinion or the Worst Ethics Opinion” treatment, but it is a development that deserves commentary. Last week while my wife and I were getting some short R&R, the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility issued Formal Ethics Opinion 2018-F-166.  If all you read of it […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

Outside counsel guidelines and term limits

While I am on something of a short streak of writing about people much more famous and influential than I am, it seems as good a time as any to offer my thoughts about the article that two very fine lawyers with Hinshaw & Culbertson wrote for The Professional Lawyer in 2017 about even more aspects of […]