Professional Responsibility Blog

As you probably know, there are differences of opinion as to whether the duty to disclose information imposed on prosecutors by ABA Model Ru...

Just about a month ago, I reported that the Ohio board that oversees attorney conduct decided that attorneys aren’t allowed to help someon...

Ohio has two parallel disciplinary mechanisms:  the certified grievance committees of local bar associations and the state disciplinary co...

Last July, Professor Ron Rotunda wrote a column in Verdict arguing that the government should not force lawyers to perform pro bono service...

There is a new way to find a lawyer online in Michigan (and soon in other midwest states).  Using data from the State Bar of Michigan, Zeek...

September 10, 2016 If you used the textbook by Prof. Stephen Gillers in your Professional Responsibility course (as a student or professor...

Citing the fact that many law graduates are facing high debt, California Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill that would have required recent...

Back in 2015, in a case called Searcy v Florida Bar , a Federal District Court Judge enjoined the Florida Bar from enforcing a rule prohib...

Over the years, I have commented on many cases where courts reverse criminal convictions due to inappropriate comments by overzealous prosec...

Back in July, 2015 I reported that the State Bar of California Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility had issued an "interi...

Lawyerist has posted a short note on a new study that concludes that in nearly 70% of all civil cases only one of the parties is represente...

Suppose a law firm hires a student as a law clerk and the student does some work for one of the lawyers.  The lawyer would be allowed to bil...

Verdict has just published a column making a case for mandatory pro-bono.  You can read it here .

I am late to post on this story about something that happened last week and which has received a lot of attention already, so I will keep it...

The last ABA national conference on professional liability featured a panel on ethical issues related to representing clients involved in th...

A few days ago I reported that the Ohio board that oversees attorney conduct decided last week that attorneys aren’t allowed to help someo...

A few days ago I reviewed the final report of the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services ( see here ) and pointed out that one of it...

A few days ago I wrote about my concern that the newly adopted amendment to Model Rule 8.4 can be used to impose sanctions for what is other...

A few days ago I posted my review of the final report of the ABA Commission on the Future of the Legal Services.  In case you missed it, you...

A few days ago I reported that the Ohio board that oversees attorney conduct decided last week that attorneys aren’t allowed to help someo...

IPethics & INsights is reporting that on August 5, 2016, the USPTO Director issued a Final Order reversing an administrative law judge’...

South Carolina's Ethics Advisory Committee has issued an opinion holding that participating in a program like Avvo's Legal Services ...

Back in 2014, the American Bar Association created a Commission on the Future of Legal Services and charged it with the task of studying how...

Back in January I wrote a long post on a proposal to amend Model Rule 8.4 to make it a sanctionable offense to engage in harassment or disc...

NPR is reporting that the parents of two Americans killed in Benghazi, Libya, are suing Hillary Clinton for wrongful death, alleging the 2...

The ABA House of Delegates just adopted a Resolution , which urges courts and legislatures to adopt rules or enact statutes that would est...

Original post (July 11, 2016); Update below: I recently posted a note on a recent opinion in Ohio which essentially concludes it is uneth...

In Washington DC, disbarment is mandatory for convictions of crimes that involve moral turpitude, yet I continue to be baffled by Washington...

The South Carolina bar's ethics committee has issued an opinion (S.C. Bar Ethics Advisory Comm., Op. 16-04, 7/18/16) holding that a law...

Back in February I reported ( here ) that the two most recent decisions on whether a convicted criminal defendant had to prove actual innoce...

What Can Johnny Manziel Teach Lawyers About Ethics? Go here for the first installment of this multi-part column at IPethics & INsights.

Long time readers of this blog know that I have been following the process of revision of the rules in California.  See here and here , for...

Last December I reported that the North Carolina Bar and Legal Zoom reached a consent agreement which suspended the litigation between them...

What should you do when you are co-counsel on a case or in a deal, and you become aware that the other lawyer has made an error?  A new eth...

Just a few weeks ago the Professional Responsibility Board of the Supreme Court of Ohio issued an advisory opinion on whether it is ethical ...

According to a story in ABC news, available here , the judge overseeing the trial of a police officer charged with murder in the death of F...

A recent New York State Bar Association Ethics Opinion (available here ) addresses whether a lawyer must obtain the consent of opposing coun...

In a recent Op-ed piece, the NY Times is arguing that because prosecutors are almost never held accountable for misconduct, even when it res...

Back in February, 2015 I posted a story about an Illinois appellate court's opinion on whether an attorney has a duty to disclose the de...

The Legal Talk Network has just posted a bunch of new podcasts, most of them related to "technology" and innovation.  Here is a li...

Ron Rotunda's most recent column at Verdict   is about prosecutors who force defendants to contribute to charity. His conclusion:  ...

About two weeks ago, the Governor of Puerto Rico signed into law a bill that creates a 3 year statute of limitations for disciplinary proce...

A couple of days ago, I commented on a news story about possible perjury by prosecutors’ witnesses and complained about the lack of action ...

The ABA Journal has a story today on how courts are not doing much about a little kept secret in Chicago courts:  that police officers some...

Back in February I wrote a comment on the first ethics opinion of the year by the Ohio Board on Professional Conduct in which I argued the ...