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 […]
Tag: RPC 8.4
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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 […]
The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility (“SCEPR”) has put out a proposed new RPC 8.4(g) for public comment with a March 11, 2016 deadline for any written comments. The proposed rule revision would add to the list of types of prohibited conduct in RPC 8.4 the following: (g) in conduct related to the […]
Being in between stops for the Roadshow until next week, but still having two more to do (Wednesday in Chattanooga and Thursday in Knoxville), this will again be a bit more of a short(ish), punchy offering. A few months ago I wrote a post about things not to do in court that discussed two incidents. […]
A while back I wrote a piece about a relatively deep conversation I had about right and wrong and why lawyers do some really bad things with a SuperShuttle driver in Phoenix. If you missed it, you can read it here. But one of the things I didn’t say during that conversation was that there […]
I have written in the past on this blog, and in other publications, about instances of lawyers getting into disciplinary trouble over their treatment of judges presiding over their clients’ cases. To the extent bullying and insulting a judge is a purposeful approach to advocacy for a client, it’s a flawed approach. This behavior isn’t unique […]
A common theme in many disciplinary proceedings brought against lawyers involves dishonesty. This should not really be a surprise given that lawyers are human beings and human beings have a tendency toward being dishonest when they can get away with it. Although there is an ethics rule that, on its face, makes it unethical for […]
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Don’t be an ass.
Quite a few years ago now, I did a seminar titled something like “The Golden Rule of Litigation” or “Litigation and the Golden Rule.” One of the fun aspects of putting it together was finding confirmation that some version of The Golden Rule – the “do unto others as you would have them do unto […]
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“Does this require a response?”
“Does this require a response?” Print those words out and tape them to the top of your monitor or laptop screen. They are words to live by. Practicing law is stressful and always has been. Lawyers have always known that they can make mistakes that destroy their client’s life or financial situation and potentially their […]
About three months ago, I wrote about a New York ethics opinion that blessed a marketing effort that I stressed would likely be unethical in Tennessee. That situation involved a lawyer giving client’s a rebate if they agreed to post a review of the lawyer’s work at an online site. In a fairly decent sign […]