Even If You Screw Up, All’s Not Lost
Some lawyers face State Bar discipline because of deliberate misconduct; others, because stupid misconduct put them there.
Category: Legal Ethics
Ethics in a World Upside Down: Pandemic Changes Everything
“The pandemic forced many of us
to do telemedicine for reasons other than emergency care. We also have patient privacy and confidentiality obligations. We have to be just as cautious.”
ABA Issues Opinion on Conflicts Providing Guidance as to “Materially Adverse Interests” Regarding Duties to Former Clients
Rules 1.9(a) and 1.18(c) address conflicts involving representing a current client with interests that are ‘materially adverse’ to the interests of a former client or prospective client on the same or a substantially related matter.
Family Ties That Bind
In this edition of the Ethics Column from San Diego Lawyer, attorney Macbeth guides us through the lawyer-witness rule.
Your Client Doesn’t Decide Whether You Should Be Courteous
Next time a colleague asks you for a courtesy extension of some deadline, remember, the decision is most likely yours, not your client’s.
When is a Lawsuit Frivolous?
Every lawyer knows it is unethical to file a frivolous lawsuit. However, the answer to the question of whether a lawsuit – or a defense to one – is frivolous, is not always easy or obvious.
Can’t I Tell Them?
The attorney-client privilege deals with communication. By contrast, our confidentiality obligation covers all information acquired in relation to the representation. From whatever source. Even if it’s public.
An Alternative to State Bar Discipline: A Program to Salvage Careers
Lawyers commit misconduct—an obvious fact evidenced by the discipline cases the Office of Chief Trial Counsel reports annually and decisions of the State Bar Court and California Supreme Court. But misconduct does not always mean severe discipline: suspension or disbarment even.
One or Many: How Many Clients Do You Have?
When a business lawyer represents a group of surgeons from a major corporation, who is his client?
Ethical Responsibility for Managing and Supervising Attorneys
The start of a new year offers an opportunity to take stock of where we’ve been over the past twelve months and where we’d like to be at the end of the new year. With 2020 behind us, we hope for a better year in 2021. To be sure, one place we don’t want to be in 2021 is on the wrong side of a disciplinary action!