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. Legal ethics

Last post of 2016 – Why lawyers need lawyers.

2016 was a year marked with quite a number of unexpected (at least to me) developments.  2017 likely will have its share of unexpected events as well. To wrap up the year, I wanted to use what little platform I have to pursue something that is both driven by blatant self-interest and is in the […]

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. Legal ethics

Friday installment of “I beg to differ.”

It has been a long time since I have had reason to strongly disagree with the insights offered by Karen Rubin and company over at their excellent blog – The Law for Lawyers Today – but here we are again. Karen has written a thought-provoking piece about a criminal defense lawyer with a parody Twitter account and […]

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. Legal ethics

Going from “easiest” to “most difficult” in three weeks.

It is Election Day, but neither the title nor the subject-matter of this post have anything to do with that. Later this week, November 11, I will be fortunate enough to present at the annual meeting of the Tennessee Association of Construction Counsel in Nashville and have billed my topic as “The Easiest Hour of […]

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. Legal ethics

Maybe the weirdest proof of the old adage about “a lawyer who represents himself…”

Over the last year or so, I have repeatedly said in a number of contexts that with the rapid changes occurring in the modern practice of law, the lawyers who will survive and thrive will be those who can demonstrate that the value that they bring is that of the “trusted advisor.”  The lawyers who […]

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. Legal ethics

Texas Ethics Opinion Offers Stellar Example of Why You Ought to Have a Rule About This.

I’ve mentioned in the past the fact that Tennessee has a version of RPC 4.4(b) that directly addresses, and provides what I happen to think is the correct outcome, for what a lawyer is supposed to do about the receipt of someone else’s confidential information either inadvertently or via someone who isn’t authorized to have […]

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. Legal ethics

Administrative suspensions -another far too often route to UPL problems.

I’ve long been torn about lawyers losing their license and ability to practice law through administrative suspensions. In Tennessee, for example, this can happen to a lawyer through failing to get your required CLE hours (TN requires 15 annually), or failing to pay your registration fees, or failing to turn in the necessary forms about […]

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. Legal ethics

Everything’s bigger in Texas, including rule problems sometimes.

First, no argument from me that I’ve been a bad blogger this week.  I’d offer excuses, but no one likes to hear excuses. Second, how about some actual substantive content … I’ve written in the past about ethical issues surrounding the verein structure of some of the largest law firms in the world.  Those prior […]

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. Legal ethics

Following up on that follow up

I probably should have taken the opportunity to say so in my last post – by way of contrast if not context — but one very obvious reason that the Ohio Supreme Court was able to move so quickly to adopt a revision to its RPC 1.2(d) to address its medical marijuana situation for lawyers […]

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. Legal ethics

Friday follow-up: Puff, puff, PA’s overreach

Couple of quick hits (pun wasn’t really intended but just sort of happened) for this Friday. A little more than a month ago, I wrote about an ethics opinion out of Ohio that created a real dilemma for lawyers looking to advise businesses related to the medical marijuana industry that was going to become legal […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

Both the java fight and the nut dispute are kind of bananas.

If you spend any time on social media these days, you may have noticed how irritable folks are.  There are lots of reasons for it, of course.  We live in stressful times.  Practicing law has always been a high-stress endeavor as far as professions go; thus, cries for more civility in the practice of law […]