Categories
Legal ethics

This “No extensions” Policy Won’t Last Long

Let’s talk about this week’s big legal news. No, not that. No, also not that. Okay, in the interest of accuracy, I should say let’s talk about something that was big legal news this week within some circles and has an easy hook into discussing attorney ethics rules. Yes, you’ve now guessed it – the […]

Categories
Legal ethics

Things You Stone Kolb Can’t Do.

So, today’s post involves an ongoing (recently initiated in fact) disciplinary matter. Accordingly, the details available are based entirely on the one-sided positions set out in the disciplinary complaint. The ABA Journal has run a story about it, but once again, it first got on my radar screen because of discussion over at The Legal […]

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. Legal ethics

For attorney’s eyes only.

Okay. It helps to get into my mindset while writing this if you hear the title in the voice of the musical snippet “For British Eyes Only” from Arrested Development. If you can’t make the frame of reference, then so be it. We’ll have to work to find common ground all the same. (Actually, for […]

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. Legal ethics

Overreaching on attorney fees. Plaintiff’s lawyers do it too.

There are always a variety of ways that examples of overreaching by attorneys on fees manage to push into the legal news. Recently, I wrote about one example involving hourly billing. More often than not, overreaching under that system is what makes the news. It is not the only way that attorneys overreach on fees […]

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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 […]

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. Legal ethics

An incredibly unhelpful ethics opinion from Colorado

Were you looking for something that is very well-written but entirely unhelpful to your needs as a lawyer?  Well, you’ve come to the right place today. Wait, I now see how that paragraph could be misconstrued in an entirely unflattering way and as an inadvertent passing of judgment on this whole blog.  Obviously, I didn’t […]

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. Legal ethics

Bad ethics opinion or the worst ethics opinion? Tenn. FEO 2016-F-161 edition

I haven’t rolled a post out with this title in a while, but the more truthful title when it comes to an ethics opinion, issued here in Tennessee on September 9, 2016 would be: “More bad than worthless or more worthless than bad?” First, the good news.  Tenn. Formal Ethics Op. 2016-F-161 is short.  It won’t […]

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. Legal ethics

A little something to be thankful for

If you’re a lawyer, then many days you may find yourself either complaining that you are too busy or that you aren’t busy enough.  Rare is the time for lawyers (in my experience) when they think their workload lands in a “just right” kind of spot.  There actually can be such a thing as too […]