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 […]
Tag: RPC 8.4
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Violence should never be the answer.
Back almost twenty years ago, the New Jersey Supreme Court warned New Jersey lawyers that “any act of violence committed by an attorney will not be tolerated” and to expect that the likely consequence for engaging in violent behavior would be “[n]othing less than a suspension.” They issued that warning in a case, In re Viggiano, […]
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 […]
“It’s easier to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.” Those words, or words of similar effect, make up a pretty widely recognized adage. Depending on the details of any situation, the adage can serve as a proxy for pretty decent advice for a lawyer to give a client, but often less so if the lawyer’s […]
The 2016 ABA Annual Meeting continues today and tomorrow but the two actions for which it likely will be most remembered have already transpired. One happened Monday when, after much public discussion and multiple revisions to the proposal along the way, a final set of proposed revisions to ABA Model Rule 8.4 was approved in […]
So, quite a few months ago, I wrote about what (I think) was the first iteration of the proposed revision to RPC 8.4 to add a black-letter rule addressing discrimination and harassment. My verdict at the time was one of skepticism that it made any sense at all to move workplace and employment discrimination issues […]
Lawyers who frequently represent other lawyers in disciplinary proceedings are well aware that the ethics rules in their state offer up an inherent 2-for-1 construction for bar prosecutors because states with versions of RPC 8.4(a) patterned on the Model Rules establish that a lawyer also violates RPC 8.4(a) by violating any other ethics rule. That […]
I like a well written, helpful ethics opinion as much as the next guy. Probably more so, given the statistically low likelihood that anyone standing near me at a given time is also a male lawyer who commits a significant part of their practice to legal ethics and professional responsibility matters. I think I’ve also […]
Given that there isn’t a lot going on in the news that relates to legal issues, I feel obligated to offer lawyers something to read. (I don’t think I’ve ever gone on record here about how badly I wish someone would create and implement a sarcasm font upon which all users could agree. Maybe it […]
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A Rorschach test in two parts
To pass the time during Snowmageddon (Snowpocalypse?), here’s a blogpost equivalent of an ink blot test. Do you think either of these situations (or both) (or neither) involve situations where disciplinary authorities should be allocating resources to go after lawyers under the ethics rules? The first inkblot: An attorney runs advertisements for his bankrutpcy practice […]