The New “Snitch Rule” in California
By Irean Z. Swan A couple of weeks ago, on June 22, 2023, the Supreme Court of California unanimously approved the new Rules of Professional Conduct rule 8.3, or better known as the “snitch...
Tagged: #ethicsinbrief
Useful Guidance from the ABA on Non-Lawyer Assistants
By David C. Carr The Simpsons lawyer Lionel Hutz wisely observed that “the law books not only make the office look good, they are chock full of useful legal tidbits.”[1] Of course, many of...
Not Enough Money
By Mitchell L. Lathrop Howard Horror (“Howard”)1 was busily representing four very important clients in a lawsuit, Evers et al. v. Jones Company. The Evers case arose because Jones Company had the audacity to...
Potential Pitfalls of Third-Party Financing Your Engagement
By Valerie Silverman Massey Imagine this scenario: Attorney is retained by Financier to represent Party. Attorney’s client is Party, but Attorney also has a financial relationship with Financier (who may be funding the representation...
Use of Purloined Privileged Documents Leads to Disqualification of Counsel
By Carole J. Buckner, Senior Counsel, Klinedinst PC When one party’s counsel in litigation had knowledge of, access to, and possession and use of privileged communications of the opposing party and her husband, disqualification...
When Zealous Advocacy Goes Too Far
By Irean Z. Swan The idea of zealous advocacy is not a foreign concept to an attorney. In fact, the preamble to the Model Rules provides that “[a]s advocate, a lawyer zealously asserts the...
Proposed Rule 8.3 Competing Alternatives: What’s on the Table Now?
By Mallory H. Chase Currently out for public comment are two alternative versions of a proposed new California Rule of Professional Conduct, rule 8.3, which would address a lawyer’s duty to report the misconduct...
One Word Change Can Make a Big Difference
By Michael L. Crowley As most practitioners know by now, there was a major revision of the Rules of Professional Conduct in 2018 that govern us all. One controversial change was to Rule 4.2...
Engagement Letters: Some Ethical Considerations
By Mitchell L. Lathrop Professional ethics require that at the outset of the attorney-client relationship, the client is made aware of the nature and scope of the attorney’s responsibilities, usually through an engagement letter....
Is Your “Conflict Waiver” Worth the Paper It’s Printed On?
By David C. Carr It is a truism that lawyers are often better at protecting their clients than protecting themselves. One area that illustrates this is what are colloquially referred to as “conflict waivers.”...