By Andrew A. Servais With the recent release of the “Pandora Papers,” renewed attention is focused on corporate ownership transparency. The so-called Pandora Papers release from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has outlined the...
By David C. Carr The great California lawyer, writer, and historian Carey McWilliams referred to the Golden State as “the great exception.”[1] In legal ethics as in so many other things, that description holds up....
By Andrew A. Servais California Rule of Professional Conduct and ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 5.4 feature a number of prohibitions designed to preserve the professional independence of lawyers, including prohibiting the sharing...
Legal Ethics for New Attorneys: Recent State Bar Attorney Disciplinary Actions Commonalities of Rules Violations In the past several months, the State Bar of California has disbarred or suspended the license to practice law...
This article was originally published in the July/Aug 2021 issue of San Diego Lawyer Magazine. By Dan Eaton A California employer has a qualified right to require its employees to receive one of the three COVID-19...
By Richard D. Hendlin This Ethics in Brief article arises from a recent inquiry I received through the SDCBA Legal Ethics Hotline (phone: 619.231.0781×4145) involving an attorney who posed the hypothetical question of whether...
Navigating the Ethical Landmines of Handling Your Own Appeal No trial attorney is perfect. Even the most prepared and experienced trial attorneys should expect their adversaries to attack not just their clients’ actions and inactions, but also claimed missteps by the trial attorneys...
By Charles V. Berwanger What are the duties of managerial and subordinate attorneys who discover that a partner is impaired? Suppose a senior partner and successful trial lawyer, who is a rainmaker of his...
By Gary Schons LAWYER and MATE, domestic partners, are at home and get into a terrible argument over finances. MATE becomes uncharacteristically angry and upset and grabs LAWYER around the neck and chokes LAWYER...
By Michael L. Crowley On June 30, 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed the sexual assault convictions of comedian-actor Bill Cosby, and he was released from prison. He was serving a 10-year sentence. News...