Professional Responsibility Blog

A comprehensive series of reform proposals have been set forth in a recent report evaluating the New York State bar disciplinary system by t...

IPethics&Insights has a short post reviewing the basics on handling clients' money, firm bank accounts and the like, here.

Less than a week ago, I wrote about a case in Colorado where a judge ordered a prosecutor to appear for a hearing to explain why the prosecu...

In another example of a court not doing anything to curb prosecutorial misconduct, the ABAJournal.com is reporting on a case from Texas whe...

I have posted numerous stories on courts reversing convictions because of the conduct of a prosecutor.  Most of the time, the conduct relate...

Last week, the South Carolina Supreme Court overruled prior precedent and held that the statute of limitations in a legal malpractice claim ...

To discuss the formation of an attorney client relationship, I give my students a hypo in which a lawyer gives a presentation at a seminar o...

As you know, prosecutors have vast discretion to decide whether to charge someone with a crime.  Prosecutorial discretion can be a dangerous...

The Indiana State Bar Association recently issued a new opinion on confidentiality that concludes that absent client consent an attorney may...

According to a story in NPR, a new report by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers concludes that judges have too much power...

The Bar Standards Board that regulates barristers in England and Wales recently approved a proposal from to change an existing rule which sa...

In most jurisdictions, a plaintiff suing an attorney for malpractice arising out of the attorney's representation in a criminal matter h...

I always tell my students that the easiest way to get disbarred is to steal money from clients.  Disbarment is almost guaranteed.  But there...

Last week I read a story in the ABA Journal.com and I wonder what everyone thinks.  Here are the facts, in a nutshell: Prosecutor gives de...

According to the rules in most jurisdictions (based on Model Rule 1.8), it is improper for attorneys to provide financial assistance to clie...

Back in May I reported that the Florida Bar Committee on Advertising had found that a law firm’s proposed texting campaign was impermissib...

Back in September of 2013, I reported that U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt ordered a new trial for officers accused of deadly shootings ...

Prof. Ronald Rotunda's most recent column at Verdict (Justicia.com) discusses instances of judges behaving badly and embarrassing the c...

As you probably know by now, the ABA Model Rules and the rules in many jurisdictions have been amended to include a comment related to compe...

Model Rule 8.4(d) (and most, if not all, its state equivalents) considers misconduct to engage in conduct that prejudicial to the administra...

If I had to pick what is the "hottest" issue in professional responsibility today, I would say it is a collection of issues all re...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently issued an opinion in an interesting case with important implications for ...

The Law Technology Today blog has just posted a panel discussion on artificial intelligence (the subject of my most recent post, below).  In...

Have you seen the newest commercial for LegalZoom in which lawyers say "I am definitely not a robot!"?   This line is a reference ...

As everyone knows, the legal service industry has been changing rapidly. Some jurisdictions allow non lawyers to provide some legal services...

Jonathan Turley's Res Ipsa Loquitur is reporting that a state court has ordered a new trial for a man convicted in 2007 due to unethic...

 The Legal Profession blog is reporting today on an interesting case out of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia...

My colleague Prof. Cynthia Bond is working on a article and she needs your help.  Here is her request: I am working on an article this su...

Over at Justicia.com, Prof. Ronald Rotunda has posted a short comment on Celgard, LLC v. LG Chem, LTD ., which he calls "a most unusua...

Professor Laurel Terry has written a short review of Andrew M. Perlman's article Towards the Law of Legal Services, Suffolk University L...

Addressing what in class I call the "chicken dinner" approach to attracting clients, the North Carolina State Bar recently announc...

The Florida Bar has released guidelines for electronic communication that consider issues of professionalism and legal ethics that may aris...

Professional Responsibility: A contemporary approach reports that "[a] recent ethics opinion from the California State Bar Committee on...

The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility has issued a new opinion on the obligations of law...

Professional Responsibility students often have a hard time understanding that the duty of confidentiality includes a duty to keep confident...

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is soliciting public comment on proposed amendments to the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct tha...

The Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers ( APRL ) recently released a comprehensive report in which it argues that “It is l...

I have commented before how the concept of "moral turpitude" is used inconsistently and how I am still confused as to what it real...

In my last two posts I mentioned the recently discussed social media guidelines in New York.  Are this guidelines really needed or are exis...

Yesterday I reported that the New York State Bar Association was going to discuss whether to adopt new rules on social media later this week...

Since the ABA adopted a comment to Model Rule 1.1 on competence as it relates to "technology" there has been a lot of discussion (...

Here is a short comment on whether using technology can constitute unauthorized practice of law.  It starts "[a]s technology becomes s...

It is often said , and I have discussed it here many times, that prosecutors rarely face accountability for prosecutorial misconduct.  Yet, ...

Lawyer Ethics Alerts Blog has the full story here .

The Legal Talk Network has posted a podcast of an interview with Judy Perry Martinez, chair of the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Se...

The most recent edition of the New York Legal Ethics Reporter is now available here .  It includes three articles:  Tinker, Tailor, Lawyer...

When a court orders disqualification, the court obviously has authority to enjoin the attorney or law firm from appearing before the court o...

A few days ago I wrote about a case in which the Kentucky Supreme Court criticized the use of the notion of "appearance of impropriety...

Over the years I have posted lots of links to recent cases in which courts reverse convictions because of improper comments by prosecutors. ...

Last year I posted a comment on an Advisory Opinion of the Ohio Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline which states that Ohio ...

The Legal Profession blog has two stories on what it calls "the North Carolina State Bar's war on criminal defense counsel."  ...

A few days ago, I commented on a couple of cases involving conduct outside the practice of law.  See here .  I mentioned the inconsistent de...

The Supreme Court of Kentucky, like many other jurisdictions, has used the notion of "appearance of impropriety" as a basis to dis...

When can you contact people who are or were represented by counsel?  Last month I posted a link to the first comment on this issue in the N...

There is only one judicial system in the United States that has adopted some version of the Code of Judicial Conduct:  United States Suprem...

Recently DQed discussed a new case in which the court found that screening mechanisms would not be effective in a case involving the hiring...

The Indiana Supreme Court recently issued an interesting opinion in which it disbarred a lawyer for what it called a “repugnant pattern of b...

As I am sure you know by now, the comment to ABA Model Rule 1.1 on the duty of competence states that there is a duty to understand the ...

A few days ago I posted some links with information and comments about the TV series Better Call Saul ( see here ).   Now here is a podcast...

A few days ago I posted a note about developments in Washington state's program to allow certified paralegals to provide certain limite...

Puerto Rico adopted its current Code of Ethics in 1970, but its content is essentially a copy of the  ABA Canons of 1908, with a few changes...

As you know by now, I am sure, the comment to Model Rule 1.1 on competence has been amended to state that the duty of competence includes th...

Back in 2012, I reported on a case from Washington DC called In re Kline in which the U.S. Justice Department and the D.C. Office of Bar ...