Categories
Legal ethics

Regulatory Reform in TN

I am certain many of you have forgotten but I did promise last year to offer more thoughts on potential regulatory reforms being considered by the Tennessee Supreme Court.  Today is the day I make good on that promise. If you are looking for a refresher, read here first. Now that you are back, you […]

Categories
Legal ethics

Texas Two (proposed ethics opinions) Step

The world is already an exceedingly difficult place. Yet, I continue to seem to think it makes sense for me to spend time thinking I can influence how Texas goes about thinking about legal ethics. There should probably be a DSM-V category for this behavior, but oh well I am doing it again. (It’s probably […]

Categories
Legal ethics

APRL Takes the Lead Again

Not quite, but almost, three years ago, I wrote about a proposal by the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers urging the ABA to revise Model Rule 5.5 to make it easier for clients to retain the lawyer of their choice without being inhibited by state lines. Regrettably, while the ABA has not yet ultimately acted […]

Categories
Legal ethics

Two brutal 2024 ethics opinions highlight the need for reform.

Over the last couple of years, as a result of my involvement with APRL, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a group of smart lawyers to seek to advance reform with respect to the status of Model Rule 5.5 and, more recently, am involved similarly in trying to start the process of reform for […]

Categories
Legal ethics

A Penny for My Thoughts

Someone last week reached out on Twitter and wanted my thoughts on the crowdfunding effort launched by a New York law firm to raise money for the legal defense of Daniel Penny. Thought #1 — not unique to me as I’ve seen others say the same thing — very few things indicate how bad things […]

Categories
Legal ethics

“No extensions” – Part 2

So, I know I promised part two of this two-part blog epic would come out today, but things have come up and so I’m going to have to ask you for a little patience and an extension of a few days to deliver. I’m just joking, of course. I know that you won’t be granting […]

Categories
Legal ethics

DoNotP(L)ay

Or maybe we should title this post “Do Not Accept Payment” instead. So, a long time ago I wrote about some of the very good work that was being done by the folks associated with the “chat bot” app DoNotPay. If you do not remember any of that, you can refresh through this link. The […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

Florida again. Sigh.

It has only been a little over a month at this point since I wrote about how Florida was a hopeless place. Well, here we are again. The Florida Bar Board of Governors has unanimously rejected a few proposals aimed toward progress in the re-regulation of the practice of law in the last week or […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

The thing about the re-regulation of the practice of law …

. . . is it really could go either way. It could make things better or it could make things worse. It truly depends on who ends up doing the re-regulation and what motivates them along the way. What is prompting the need to say this sentiment out loud today exactly? Well, cynical types might […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

Three developments presented in decreasing order of importance.

Last week, the Utah Supreme Court officially approved the most “radical” change in any state’s ethics rules since DC adopted a limited approval for law firms to have partners who are not lawyers several decades ago. The Utah Supreme Court announced its adoption of a package of reforms aimed at improving the access to justice […]