By Deborah Wolfe Lawyers have always had a duty to be honest and truthful pursuant to general ethical principles, as well as the State Bar Act. The newest version of the Rules of Professional...
By Timothy Casey This issue of Ethics in Brief covers an attorney’s duty of confidentiality and a commonly held misconception regarding a “public records” exception to the duty of confidentiality. The misconception may stem...
By Edward J. McIntyre We tend to think of our obligations under the Rules of Professional Conduct as personal duties specific to our own conduct. And, indeed, the rules prescribe permissible conduct for California...
By David C. Carr A State Bar Court hearing judge filed her decision this week recommending the disbament of Thomas V. Girardi. Unless you have been living in cave over the last year[1], you...
By Edward McIntyre Many jurisdictions adopted a version of ABA Model Rule 1.14 to give guidance when lawyers must confront obligations to a client with diminished decision-making capacity. Our Rules Revision Commission submitted a...
A Pending California State Bar Opinion Explains And Gives Guidance On Lawyer Ethical Duties By Charles Berwanger Lawyers are often put into the position of knowingly (or even unknowingly) receiving client direction to, for...
By Jessica Park and Andrew Servais The California State Bar recently seized the client files of Efferin Deans, a man with a 25-year history of impersonating attorneys and two prior convictions of identity theft.[1] On...
By David C. Carr Lawyers owe many ethical duties to their clients. Most of these duties are bottomed on the fiduciary nature of the attorney-client relationship. But lawyers also owe ethical duties to the judicial system...
By Edward McIntyre A Central District of California grand jury issued subpoenas to a company and its lawyers related to a criminal investigation of the company’s owner, also a client of the lawyers. The subpoenas...
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...