Professional Responsibility Blog

Professor Alberto Bernabe - The University of Illinois-Chicago School of Law

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

New ABA Ethics Opinion on duties related to the use of modern technology -- UPDATED

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The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility recently issued Formal Ethics Opinion 477, which updates Formal Ethics ...
Saturday, May 20, 2017

Florida Supreme Court adopts new rules addressing collaborative law practice

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The Florida Supreme Court has adopted new rules addressing collaborative family law practice.  You can read the details here .
Wednesday, May 17, 2017

North Carolina is considering amending its rules to make it easier for lawyers to participate in Avvo Legal Services

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Long time readers of this blog know that I have been following and writing about the debates related to Avvo Legal Services for some time no...
Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Florida Supreme Court dismisses Florida Bar’s petition proposing substantial revisions to lawyer referral service rules

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Back in 2015, the Florida Supreme Court rejected amendments to state regulations on referral services and directed the State Bar to instead ...
Monday, May 15, 2017

NPR article on one example of prosecutorial misconduct

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NPR has published an interesting short article chronicling a criminal case recently dismissed because of prosecutorial misconduct.  The tit...

Georgia Supeme Court finds duty to disclose exculpatory evidence does not necessarily require disclosure before trial

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The Georgia Supreme Court recently absolved a state prosecutor of ethics charges arising from an alleged violation of the duty to disclose ...
Sunday, May 14, 2017

Virginia to amend rules regarding advertising

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The Virginia Supreme Court has announced that it will adopt new lawyer advertising rules effective July 1, 2017.  Here is the announcement ...
Thursday, May 4, 2017

Hot potato doctrine applied in Mississippi

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The Law for Lawyers Today blog is reporting on a recent case applying the "hot potato doctrine" in Mississippi.  You can read the ...
Saturday, April 29, 2017

My most recent article is now available

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My article Justice Gap vs. Core Values: The Common Themes in the Innovation Debate was recently published by the Journal of the Legal Profes...
Monday, April 3, 2017

Amendments to Illinois CLE requirements

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Earlier today, the Illinois Supreme Court amended the Illinois rule that imposes a minimum number of hours of CLE dedicated to Professional...
Friday, March 31, 2017

Want to help the economy? Don't cut legal aid

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Over at Above the Law , David A. Lash, the Managing Counsel for Pro Bono and Public Interest Services at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, has publ...
Sunday, March 26, 2017

Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejects argument that rules that ban lawyers from raising capital from non lawyers are unconstitutional -- UPDATED

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In an important and highly anticipated opinion, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has rejected an argument against the rules of pr...

Yet another case on whether a fee sharing contract that does not follow the rules can be enforced

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A few days ago I posted a note about a recent case on the issue of whether a fee sharing contract that does not strictly meet all the requir...
Saturday, March 11, 2017

Is a fee sharing contract that violates the rules of professional conduct enforceable?

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A few years ago I reported on an Illinois case that held that a contract that violated the rules of professional conduct could not be enforc...

ABA is seeking comments on proposal to amend advertising and solitication rules -- UPDATED

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Feb. 24, 2017   The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics & Professional Responsibility is currently accepting comments on APRL’s comprehens...

Tennessee adopts duty of competence regarding "technology"; Two recent articles explore the meaning of such a duty

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Last week, the Supreme Court of Tennessee issued an order adopting a number of amendments to the state's rules of professional conduct, ...
Tuesday, March 7, 2017

New Ohio opinion reminds us of the difference between fees and expenses

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The Ohio Board of Professional Conduct recently issued an advisory opinion on lawyer advertising that emphasizes the need to be clear about ...
Friday, March 3, 2017

California Committee issues final draft of opinion on whether blogs are subject to advertising rules

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Legal Ethics in Motion is reporting that the California Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct has finalized an op...

New York State Bar Association launches new platform to provide better access to legal representation

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The New York State Bar Association, and Legal.io, a developer of referral-network and marketplace platforms for the legal industry, have tea...
Monday, February 27, 2017

Judge finds party waived privilege by placing information on unprotected file sharing website

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Earlier this month a federal magistrate judge in Virginia held that placing privileged materials on an unprotected file-sharing site waived ...
1 comment:
Saturday, February 25, 2017

Legal ethics professors file disciplinary complaint against Kellyanne Conway - UPDATED

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If you saw the original story, scroll down to the end for an update: I am sure you have heard by now that fifteen professors of legal eth...
Saturday, February 18, 2017

Metadata Fair Game in Texas?

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As reported in Legal Ethics in Motion , a recent opinion of a Texas bar panel concludes that there is no duty to inform opposing counsel tha...

Illinois State Bar Association issues Opinion on using cloud services to store client information

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Back in October, the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) issued a Professional Conduct Advisory Opinion stating that a lawyer may use clou...
Sunday, February 12, 2017

Florida adopts duty of technology competence and a requirement regarding technology CLE -- Updated

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October 1, 2016.   Last week the Supreme Court of Florida became the 25th state to adopt the duty of technological competence that the ABA ...

A recently launched company helps consumers find lawyers based on their win rates

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Law Sites has a story and a critique of a recently launched company helps consumers find lawyers based on their win rates.  The ABA Journal...

Ethical Considerations When Switching from Criminal Defense to the Prosecution

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Here is a new short article on ethical considerations when switching from criminal defense to the prosecution published by the New York Leg...
Saturday, February 11, 2017

Ethical Implications of Emergent Technologies

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Last week I discussed the comment to Model Rule 1.1 which makes it an element of the duty of competence to understand, and stay current on, ...
Thursday, February 9, 2017

ABA approves new rule on CLE

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Just a few days ago, the ABA House of Delegates adopted a new Model  Rule  for  Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE).  You can find the...
Sunday, January 29, 2017

Idaho Supreme Court abandons actual innocence requirement for legal malpractice actions against former criminal defense attorneys

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Just about a year ago I reported ( here ) that the two most recent decisions on whether a convicted criminal defendant had to prove actual...
Thursday, January 26, 2017

Illinois Supreme Court adopts 'proactive management-based regulation'

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Yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court announced rule amendments that make Illinois the first state to adopt so-called “proactive management ...
Saturday, January 21, 2017

Forthcoming law review article on the need to re think norms, duties and the notion of value in legal services

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Readers of the blog might be interested in this forthcoming law review article: Restraining Lawyers: From 'Cases' to 'Tasks'...
Thursday, January 19, 2017

ABA Center for Innovation is now accepting applications for its fellowship program

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The ABA Center for Innovation, about which I wrote not too long ago here , is accepting applications for its inaugural fellowship program. ...
Monday, January 16, 2017

Pennsylvania rejects ABA Rule 8.4(g) approach to regulation of discriminatory conduct and proposes new rule similar to the one in Illinois

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Just a few minutes ago I posted an item on the much discussed newly adopted ABA Model Rule 8.4(g), and then I found this new bit of news:  ...

Texas Attorney General thinks new anti-discrimination Model Rule is unconstitutional

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The ABA recently approved an amendment to Model Rule 8.4 to make it misconduct to use discriminatory or biased speech.  Back in January I ...
Monday, December 19, 2016

Recent article on the criminal justice system

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For those of you interested in issues related to the criminal justice system, you may want to check out a new article by David Patton (NYU L...
Friday, December 9, 2016

ABA Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility issues new opinion on safeguarding fees to be split with lawyers outside the firm

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The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility has issued a new Formal Opinion (No.475) to explain the duties of a la...

Comment on jury nullification

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Above the Law has published an interesting take on the issue of jury nullification.  You can read it here .

New Mexico public defender held in contempt for refusing to take cases arguing high caseloads impede proper representation

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New Mexico’s chief public defender has been found in contempt of court and fined $5,000 for refusing to provide lawyers to represent crimina...
Saturday, December 3, 2016

Short comment on the different approaches to ghostwriting

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A few years ago, the issue of whether it was proper for an attorney to "ghostwrite" documents for pro se litigants was hotly debat...

Pennsylvania adopts new rule related to counseling clients in marijuana business

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The Legal Profession blog is reporting that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has adopted an amendment to its rules to add a new subsection (e...

California proposes change to rule regarding sex with clients

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Model Rule 1.8(j) was adopted a number of years ago to regulate possible sexual relationships with clients.  It states that "a lawyer ...
Tuesday, November 29, 2016

My article on Avvo is now available

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During the spring and summer I wrote an article on ethical issues related to joining Avvo Legal Services.  I started writing the article soo...
Friday, November 11, 2016

Utah Supreme Court dismisses professional responsibility concerns over case in which plaintiff and defendant were the same person

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I recently read in the Legal Profession blog a summary of a recent decision out of the Utah Supreme Court with the oddest fact pattern I ha...
Thursday, November 10, 2016

District of Columbia Bar new opinions on social media use

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The Legal Ethics Committee of the District of Columbia Bar has just issued two opinions on social media use.  Ethics Opinion 370 is availabl...
Wednesday, November 9, 2016

One of my recent articles is now available online

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My essay Through the Looking Glass in Indiana: Mandatory Reporting Child Abuse and the Duty of Confidentiality was recently published by No...
2 comments:
Friday, November 4, 2016

Review of the state of the law on advanced conflicts waivers

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IPethics & INsights has published two articles reviewing the current state of the law on advanced waivers.  Go here for part 1 and here...
Saturday, October 29, 2016

Please vote for the blog!

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I am happy to report that my humble blog is one of the finalists in the 2016 Best Legal Blog Contest.  But it now needs your help!   Please ...
Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Comment on the new ABA rule on CLE panels

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In 2008, the American Bar Association adopted as a goal to work to "eliminate bias and enhance diversity” by promoting full and equal p...

The Sixth Amendment Center analyzes the “Indiana Model” for providing right to counsel services

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The Sixth Amendment Center has published two articles analyzing in detail Indiana's system for providing attorneys to indigent defendant...
Sunday, October 23, 2016

Podcast on the ABA Report on the Future of Legal Services

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Last August I reported on the ABA Report on the Future of Legal Services and concluded that I was not impressed.  You can read my detailed r...

Judge assigned to wrongful death case against Hilary Clinton steps aside and asks for case to be reassigned after allegations of forum shopping

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Back in August I reported that the parents of two Americans killed in Benghazi, Libya, filed a lawsuit Hillary Clinton for wrongful death, ...

California Appeals Court upholds disqualification of entire DA's office -- UPDATE

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Back in March of 2015, I reported that a state judge in California removed an entire DA's office from a high-profile murder prosecution ...
Monday, October 10, 2016

Pennsylvania Opinion finds participating in program like Avvo Legal Services to be unethical

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For the third time in four months, a state bar ethics committee has warned attorneys that participating in an Avvo like client referral prog...
Sunday, October 9, 2016

Virginia clarifies duty of candor regarding possible perjury

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The Legal Profession Blog is reporting that the Supreme Court of Virginia has approved amendments to Rules 1.6 and 3.3. The amendments cla...
Friday, October 7, 2016

California: Prosecutors who withhold evidence can be charged with a felony

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Long time readers of this blog know I often complain about the fact that courts do not seem to take prosecutorial misconduct too seriously....
Sunday, October 2, 2016

Five Myths About USPTO Ethics Investigations and Disciplinary Complaints

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IPethics & INsights  has published a short and informative post called Five Myths About USPTO Ethics Investigations and Disciplinary Com...
Wednesday, September 21, 2016

NYC Bar Ethics Committee issues opinion holding that prosecutors’ duty to disclose is broader than the duty imposed by Brady v Maryland

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As you probably know, there are differences of opinion as to whether the duty to disclose information imposed on prosecutors by ABA Model Ru...
1 comment:
Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Ohio Supreme Court adopts amendment to allow lawyers to advise clients in legal marijuana business

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Just about a month ago, I reported that the Ohio board that oversees attorney conduct decided that attorneys aren’t allowed to help someon...
Saturday, September 17, 2016

Ohio Supreme Court issues divided opinion on whether disciplinary counsel can bring charges against an attorney after another disciplinary agency had already decided not to do so -- UPDATED

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Ohio has two parallel disciplinary mechanisms:  the certified grievance committees of local bar associations and the state disciplinary co...
Friday, September 16, 2016

Comment on whether attorneys should be forced to provide pro bono services

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

Zeekbeek: a new way to find a lawyer online

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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...
Saturday, September 10, 2016

Can an attorney disclose very old confidential information because of its historical value? -- UPDATED

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September 10, 2016 If you used the textbook by Prof. Stephen Gillers in your Professional Responsibility course (as a student or professor...
Tuesday, September 6, 2016

California Governor vetoes bill that would have imposed mandatory pro bono for newly admitted lawyers

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Citing the fact that many law graduates are facing high debt, California Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill that would have required recent...
Saturday, September 3, 2016

Florida Bar appears to be going forward with proposal to amend the Rules of Professional Conduct in spite of finding that the proposal is most likely unconstitutional

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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...
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Professor Alberto Bernabe
UIC School of Law, Chicago
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