Professional Responsibility Blog

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

Monday, November 29, 2021

Does the duty to know the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology (also known as technology competence) include a duty to watch and be aware of the news?

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Long time readers of this blog know that I have posted many stories about the implications of comment [8] to Model Rule 1.1 on Competence.  ...
Sunday, November 28, 2021

How not to practice law: Text your client how to answer questions during a deposition, then try to cover it up by claiming incompetence -- UPDATED

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November 28, 2021 The Legal Profession Blog recently published a summary of a decision in Florida suspending a lawyer for 91 days for textin...
Sunday, November 21, 2021

Complaint filed challenging Connecticut's recently adopted version of Model Rule 8.4(g)

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An organization called the New Civil Liberties Alliance recently filed a complaint in Connecticut seeking to enjoin the implementation of th...
Monday, November 15, 2021

Podcast on civility in the practice of law

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The podcast Reimagining Law dedicated a recent episode to discussing the difference between being a client advocate and overly aggressive, h...
Sunday, November 14, 2021

NY City reacts against law professors who filed complaints against prosecutors; law professors respond by filing lawsuit

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Last May I wrote about a new organization in New York called "Accountability New York" created by lawyers and law professors to pu...
Sunday, November 7, 2021

Reinventing Witness Preparation

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Litigation Radio has a posted a podcast on witness preparation (sponsored by the ABA section on litigation).  You can listen to the program ...
Thursday, October 28, 2021

Florida Supreme Court finds that company that provided help with traffic tickets engaged in unauthorized practice of law -- UPDATED

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October 17, 2021  (Updates at the end) Back in 2018, I wrote about a couple of complaints filed in Florida that I argued could challenge the...
Sunday, October 17, 2021

New Jersey finds that practicing law remotely is not unauthorized practice of law

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New Jersey’s Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law joined with the Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics to issue Joint Opinion ...
Sunday, October 10, 2021

ABA issues new formal opinion on the duty of communication with a client when the attorney and client have difficulties understanding each other -- UPDATED

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 The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility recently issued a new Formal Opinion (No. 500, October 6, 2021) on an ...

Should Louisiana adopt MR 8.4(g)?

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 The Louisiana Legal Ethics blogs recently posted a comment on Model Rule 8.4(g) and on whether Louisiana should adopt it.  It concludes: In...
Monday, September 27, 2021

Pandemic-Related Legal Ethics Opinions: A Compendium

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LawSites has a short list of recent ethics opinions generated because of the pandemic and the fact that so many lawyers are practicing law r...
Sunday, September 26, 2021

How not to practice law: alter the dates on emails

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It has been a while since I added an entry to our running "how not to practice law" department, so here I am today with an easy on...
Saturday, September 18, 2021

Data regarding regulatory changes in Utah shows promise according to new report

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As I am sure you know, last year Utah and Arizona adopted significant changes to their approach to the regulation of the practice of law.  C...
Friday, September 10, 2021

ABA issues new opinion on lawyers passive investment in law firms that include non-lawyer owners -- UPDATED

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The ABA's Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Ethics recently issued a new Ethics Opinion on whether lawyers may inves...
Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Recently exonerated man sues prosecutor

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 A recently exonerated man who spent 23 years in prison has filed a complaint against a longtime Mississippi district attorney alleging vari...
Tuesday, September 7, 2021

More coverage on sanctions on Sydney Powell and other lawyers in Michigan

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 I recently reported on the sanctions imposed on the lawyers for the Trump campaign in Michigan (more recently here ; but for all the covera...
Monday, September 6, 2021

More Trump lawyers sanctioned

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I have been following the reports on sanctions imposed on lawyers for the Trump campaign recently (go here and scroll down for those storie...
Sunday, September 5, 2021

Texas state bar faces new challenge over membership requirement to state bar association

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The ABA Journal is reporting that the State Bar of Texas is facing a new lawsuit claiming that it has continued to require lawyers to join a...

Tennessee adopts rules amending rules on attorney advertising

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Just a few days ago, the Tennessee Supreme Court adopted proposed revisions to the lawyer advertising rules. You can read all about the amen...

Arizona rejects requirement for diversity and inclusion CLE

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 On August 30, the Arizona Supreme Court rejected a petition that proposed to require Arizona licensed attorneys, who are not otherwise exem...
Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Lucian Pera for President -- UPDATED

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 A few days ago I provided a link to an article in which Lucian Pera, who is running for President of the ABA, explains his vision for the A...
Monday, August 30, 2021

Ohio amends rules to allow out of state lawyers to practice remotely in Ohio

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 The Legal Profession Blog is reporting that the Ohio Supreme Court has adopted an amendment that will allow a lawyer admitted to practice i...
Sunday, August 29, 2021

More coverage on the opinion imposing sanctions on lawyers' for the Trump campaign in Michigan

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 As I reported a few days ago, a judge in Michigan issued an order imposing sanctions on nine lawyers for filing a frivolous lawsuit for an ...

Comments on recent developments in the regulation of the profession

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 As I am sure you know, one of the (if not the ) hottest topics in Professional Responsibility today is the development of new approaches to...
Thursday, August 26, 2021

Breaking News: Michigan judge imposes sanctions on nine attorneys for the Trump campaign

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Back in July and earlier this month I reported that a Michigan judge held a hearing on whether to impose sanctions on the lawyers who repres...
Sunday, August 22, 2021

Legal Zoom seeks alternative business structure license in Arizona

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 As I am sure you know by now, last year Arizona and Utah became the first jurisdictions in the US to allow lawyers to partner with non-lawy...
Thursday, August 12, 2021

Lucian Pera for President

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My friend Lucian Pera, one of the most well known and respected members of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility, is running for Pr...
Wednesday, August 11, 2021

California Lawyers Association Ethics Committee Provides Guidance on the Elements of Effective Ethical Screens

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Hinshaw has a report on the California Lawyers Association Ethics Committee Formal Opinion 2021-1, which identified the "Elements of Ef...
Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Florida Supreme Court imposes sanctions for use of pitbull imagery in advertising

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Back in March I commented on a pending case in Florida in which the state requested the Supreme Court to impose sanctions on an attorney for...
Monday, August 9, 2021

US Magistrate for District of Colorado imposes sanctions on lawyers who challenged the presidential election results in a lawsuit based on "enormous conspiracy theory"

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While we await the result of the debate over whether to impose sanctions on the lawyers involved in an election challenge case in Michigan b...
Sunday, August 8, 2021

Michigan judge holds hearing on whether to impose sanctions on Trump's lawyers - UPDATED

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July 13, 2021 In case you don't remember, a number of attorneys for the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in Michigan challenging the resul...
Tuesday, August 3, 2021

NY and Georgia issue opinions on advising clients in the marijuana industry which reach opposite conclusions - UPDATED

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Ethics authorities in New York and Georgia recently issued opinions on whether lawyers can advise clients on matters related to both recreat...
Sunday, August 1, 2021

Bar complaint filed against Texas AG Ken Paxton

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 As you know by now, Rudy Giuliani's law license was suspended in New York and Washington DC as a result of his involvement in the frivo...
Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Discipline for replying to online reviews improperly

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One topic that has received a lot of attention this year is the question of how to reply to negative online reviews.   Earlier this year, th...
Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Pennsylvania announces amendments to rule 8.4(g) which had been declared unconstitutional last year

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 As you probably remember, back in December, a federal district court declared unconstitutional Pennsylvania's version of ABA Model Rule...

How not to practice law: tell the judge "F@*! you"

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 Do I really need to tell you this?  Really?    I guess I do because a Missouri medical malpractice attorney has been ordered to spend a wee...
Monday, July 26, 2021

Sixth Circuit rejects a challenge to Michigan's mandatory membership requirement

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 Five days after I reported that the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the mandatory bar system used in Texas was unconstitut...
Sunday, July 25, 2021

Florida Committee files final report recommending regulatory changes, including non-lawyer ownership of firms and legal technicians -- UPDATED

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On June 28, the Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services submitted its final report to the Florida Supreme Court, recomme...
Monday, July 12, 2021

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit finds that mandatory bar system used in Texas is unconstitutional

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Long time readers of this blog might remember that I have been following the many lawsuits filed around the country alleging that mandatory ...
Sunday, July 11, 2021

Rudy Giuliani gets suspended in Washington DC

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 About two weeks ago I reported that Rudy Giuliani's license to practice law was suspended by a court in New York.  One question that s...
Monday, July 5, 2021

Oregon's Board of Bar Examiners suggests supervised practice or law school experiential learning programs as bar exam alternatives for attorney licensure

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The ABA Journal is reporting that the Oregon State Bar Board of Bar Examiners has adopted a task force report suggesting supervised practice...
Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Last Reminder: if you currently get this blog's updates by e-mail, you need to change "carrier"; here's how to do it

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Hopefully, by now you don't need this last reminder, but just in case... In case you have missed the previous posts on this, you should ...
Monday, June 28, 2021

New York Court imposes interim suspension on Rudy Giuliani

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 As I am sure you know by now, last week the First Judicial Department of the Courts in New York imposed an interim suspension on Rudy Giuli...
Sunday, June 27, 2021

South Carolina lawyers beware: anything you say can and will be used against you; Court imposes discipline because it found certain private speech offensive

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I know that the big news item of the week was Rudy Giuliani’s getting an interim suspension, and I will comment on that tomorrow, but I want...
Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Podcast with Arizona Supreme Court Justice on the regulatory changes adopted in Arizona

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Last August, Arizona became the first state to eliminate the ban on non-lawyer ownership of law firms.  See here , here and here .  This si...
Monday, June 14, 2021

New York Bar Association and Connecticut approve their own versions of Model Rule 8.4(g)

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Back in April, I reported that the New York State Bar Association Committee on Standards of Attorney Conduct (“COSAC”) presented a proposed ...
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Professor Alberto Bernabe
UIC School of Law, Chicago
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