Course1

LIVE REPLAY: The Ethics of Bad Facts and Bad Law

$59.00

Every representation involves “bad” facts and/or “bad” law – facts and law that run counter to a client’s objectives.  Ethical tensions and issues arise when a lawyer has todisclose bad facts or law to a court or administrative panel, or even to an adversary. At what point does the lawyer’s duty as a member of the bar and officer of the court require disclosure even when it is adverse to a client’s interest whom the lawyer must zealously represent?  What are the limits to how a lawyer may represent an adverse fact or adverse law, even unpublished law, to an adversary?  Answering these difficulty questions may not only impact the outcome of a representation but potentially expose ethical sanction.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to the ethical issues surrounding bad facts and bad law in client representations. Lawyer ethical duties to disclose bad facts and bad law Ethical issues surrounding the representation of adverse facts to tribunals and adversaries Duties to disclose adverse legal precedent to courts and administrative panels When is a lawyer required to disclose bad fact or law versus when they may disclose? Timing issues – at what stage should adverse facts and law be disclosed? Related issues of confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege Ex parte communications with the courts – what’s ethically permissible, what’s not?   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 9/30/2020
    Presented
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Course1

LIVE REPLAY: How Ethics Rules Apply to Lawyers Outside of Law Practice

$59.00

Ethics rules are intended primarily to regulate lawyer acts when practicing law. But the rules do not always stop there. Lawyers can be held responsible and disciplined under ethics rules for things they do when acting outside of their practices.  Lawyers may be disciplined under ethics rules for criminal conduct, including misdemeanors, entirely unrelated to their lawyerly conduct. They may be also be disciplined for any acts that involve dishonesty, misrepresentation, or any actions prejudicial to the judicial system. This program will provide you with a real-world guide to circumstances in which ethics rules apply to lawyers when they act outside of law practice. Dishonesty and misrepresentation when a lawyer is acting as a non-lawyer Lawyers as business people – how counter-parties can allege ethical misconduct Ex parte communications – when lawyers represent themselves in litigation or in other matters, who can they communicate with? Violations of law, including misdemeanors, as ethics violations Restrictions on lawyers’ ability to market themselves in non-lawyer roles   Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750-pagetreatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 12/31/2020
    Presented
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Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Lawyer Ethics and Email

$59.00

  Law practice without email is difficult to imagine.  Clients and courts not only use it but expect lawyers to use it for communications. But email comes with a host of substantial ethical issues.  Is email secure?  Can it be used to – even inadvertently – create an attorney-client relationship? How does email impact the attorney-client privilege?  What about email conversations with a represented adversary?  How can confidentiality and other ethical duties be satisfied when law firms almost always work with outside vendors to provide email?  These and other substantial ethical questions will be discussed in this practical guide to the ethical issues when lawyers use email in their practices. Beginning an attorney relationship via email – intentionally and inadvertently Effect on attorney-client privilege when using a vendor for email Discarding/deleting email and working with outside vendors Ex parte communications with represented adversaries Corporate counsel issues – in-house creation of documents, legal v. business advice Inadvertently sent email and metadata embedded in email   Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.  

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 12/30/2020
    Presented
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Course1

LIVE REPLAY: 2020 Ethics Update Part 2

$59.00

This annual ethics program will provide you with a round-table discussion of practical ethical issues important to your practice. The program will provide you with an engaging discussion of ethics developments involving technology and law practice, conflicts of interest, and attorney-client communications in a digital world where no one is truly unplugged. The panel will also discuss the ethics of withdrawing from a matter and firing a client and the ethics of developing new business.  This program will provide you with a wide-ranging discussion of practical ethics developments important to your practice. Day 1: Ethics portable devices, the cloud, and always being plugged in Ethics and competence: What is competence in a specialized world? Emerging issues in conflicts of interest, part 1   Day 2:  Ethics of firing a client Ethics and client development Emerging issues in conflicts of interest, part 2   Speakers: Lucian T. Pera is a partner in the Memphis office of Adams & Reese, LLP.  His practice includes professional malpractice litigation as well as counseling lawyers and law firms in the area of ethics and professional responsibility.  He was a member of the ABA’s Ethics 2000 Commission and is co-author of "Ethics and Lawyering Today," a national e-mail newsletter on lawyer ethics, which is accessible at: www.ethicsandlawyering.com.  Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial clerk to Judge Harry W. Wellford of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  Mr. Pera received his A.B. with honors from Princeton University and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law. William Freivogel is the principal of Freivogel Ethics Consulting and is an independent consultant to law firms on ethics and risk management.  He was a trial lawyer for 22 years and has practiced in the areas of legal ethics and lawyer malpractice for 20 years.  He is chair of the Editorial Board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct. and past chair of the ABA Business Law Section Committee on Professional Responsibility.  He maintains the Web site “Freivogel on Conflicts” at www.freivogelonconflicts.com.  Mr. Freivogel is a graduate of the University of Illinois (Champaign), where he received his B.S. and LL.B. Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 12/29/2020
    Presented
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Course1

LIVE REPLAY: 2020 Ethics Update Part 1

$59.00

This annual ethics program will provide you with a round-table discussion of practical ethical issues important to your practice. The program will provide you with an engaging discussion of ethics developments involving technology and law practice, conflicts of interest, and attorney-client communications in a digital world where no one is truly unplugged. The panel will also discuss the ethics of withdrawing from a matter and firing a client and the ethics of developing new business.  This program will provide you with a wide-ranging discussion of practical ethics developments important to your practice.  Day 1: Ethics portable devices, the cloud, and always being plugged in Ethics and competence: What is competence in a specialized world? Emerging issues in conflicts of interest, part 1   Day 2: Ethics of firing a client Ethics and client development Emerging issues in conflicts of interest, part 2   Speakers: Lucian T. Pera is a partner in the Memphis office of Adams & Reese, LLP.  His practice includes professional malpractice litigation as well as counseling lawyers and law firms in the area of ethics and professional responsibility.  He was a member of the ABA’s Ethics 2000 Commission and is co-author of "Ethics and Lawyering Today," a national e-mail newsletter on lawyer ethics, which is accessible at: www.ethicsandlawyering.com.  Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial clerk to Judge Harry W. Wellford of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  Mr. Pera received his A.B. with honors from Princeton University and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law. William Freivogel is the principal of Freivogel Ethics Consulting and is an independent consultant to law firms on ethics and risk management.  He was a trial lawyer for 22 years and has practiced in the areas of legal ethics and lawyer malpractice for 20 years.  He is chair of the Editorial Board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct. and past chair of the ABA Business Law Section Committee on Professional Responsibility.  He maintains the Web site “Freivogel on Conflicts” at www.freivogelonconflicts.com.  Mr. Freivogel is a graduate of the University of Illinois (Champaign), where he received his B.S. and LL.B. Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 12/28/2020
    Presented
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Course1

Ethics, Satisfied Clients & Successful Representations

$59.00

Ethics rules are more than mere strictures attorneys must observe.  They also provide principles for successful and positive relationship with clients.  Even if the client’s goal isn’t fully satisfied – prevailing in litigation, closing a transaction, or something else – the relationship can still be positive.  What the rules require and what clients want are often the same:  Open and regular communication the status of work; a clear setting of expectations about billing; honesty about the challenges of particular matter; and a clear division of decision-making authority.Counseling about matters they may not fully understand is essential to a successful relationship. This program will discuss how ethics rules provide principles and a foundation for successful and positive attorney-client relationships. Defining the scope of an engagement and setting reasonable expectations Counseling clients about an attorney’s role and decision-making authority Setting a standard for ongoing communication with clients Candor about fees and expenses, and helping clients make good decisions Dispute resolution when things go wrong   Speakers:

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 12/22/2020
    Presented
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Course1

Ethics and Virtual Law Offices

$59.00

Technology allows lawyers far more flexibility to practice law virtually – from home or in shared settings – than ever before.  No longer must they maintain freestanding offices, support staff, and libraries. Lawyers can set-up offices in their homes, communicate with clients, adversaries and the courts electronically, outsource overflow work to co-counsel or vendors, and establish web sites that can reach potential clients. These “virtual” practices are increasingly commonplace, but the relative ease with which they are established obscures many significant ethical issues.This program will provide you with a practical guide to significant issues when lawyers and law firms establish “virtual” law practices. Disclosure to clients of the virtual character of a law practice Electronic communications, confidentiality, and ethical risks in virtual practices Ethical issues when lawyers share office space or other resources but practice separately How Web sites and a “virtual” presence implicate multijurisdictional practice issues Outsourcing work to vendors or co-counsel, and ensuring its competently performed Requirements and risks when offering legal advice across state lines Duty to understand law office technology as a duty of competence   Speaker:

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 12/15/2020
    Presented
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Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Professionalism for the Ethical Lawyer

$59.00

Ethics rules, the principles of professionalism, and sanctionable conduct are interrelated.  Lawyers have a duty to zealously represent their clients, but they do not have a duty to engage in offensive conduct that may be desired by clients. Lawyers have duties of confidentiality and honesty, but those duties do not always require pressing every advantage, such as when the lawyer knows that opposing counsel has made a material drafting error in a transactional document. In these and many other scenarios, ethics rules, professionalism, and potentially sanctionable conduct subtly interact.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to professionalism for the ethical lawyer.   Interrelationship of ethics rules, professionalism, and sanctions Zealous representation v. needlessly embarrassing an adversary or third-party Reacting to an adversary’s drafting errors in transactional documents Ethics, professionalism and inadvertent transmission of communications Duty to supervise and train subordinate lawyers and staff, including to ensure courtesy to clients, opposing counsel, and courts Offering candid advice to clients and withdrawal when they demand offensive conduct Avoiding discrimination and bigotry Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the Tysons Corners, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, where he advises firm clients on professional responsibility issues and properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.He has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility,and is a Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.He has written extensively on attorney-client privilege, ethics and other topics, and has spoken at over 1,800 CLE programs throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries.Through links on his website biography, he has made available to the public  his summaries of over 1,600 Virginia and ABA legal ethics opinions, organized by topic; a 300 page summary of his two-volume 1,500 page book on the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine; over 900 weekly email alerts about privilege and work product cases; and materials for 40 ethics programs on numerous topics, totaling over 9,000 pages of analysis.Mr. Spahn graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and received his J.D. from Yale Law School.

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 12/14/2020
    Presented
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Course1

2020 Ethics and Social Media Update

$59.00

Lawyers use social media technology to collect and share information, and communicate with others, not only personally but also when acting as lawyers. Important and probative information about a case – information about jurors, witnesses or others in litigation or about a transaction – can be more easily found on social than elsewhere.  Social media is also easily used to communicate with existing or potential clients, colleagues or opposing lawyers, and the public.  Client development – online advertising, blogging and emailed newsletters – is also commonplace among lawyers.  All these and other uses of technology raise substantial ethical issues for lawyers – competence, confidentiality, preservation of the attorney-client privilege, and honesty.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to substantial ethical issues when lawyers use social media and other technology in practice. Ethics, social media, and technology – competence, confidentiality, and honesty Communicating with parties, opposing attorneys, and witnesses via social media Researching jurors, parties, witnesses and judges via social media Ethical issues when blogging, issuing e-newsletters/law updates to clients, or posting commentary or video online “Friending” or otherwise connecting with judges, witnesses and others on social media platforms Trends in texting, confidentiality, and discoverability Ethics of using web sites, online advertising and social media for client development purposes   Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 12/9/2020
    Presented
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Course1

Ethics and Dishonest Clients

$59.00

One of the dangers of practicing law is that, now and again, you get a dishonest client.  Your client may be misleading you – and others – about the facts of their case, either through silence or affirmative misstatements.  Or they may be telling you one thing and others something else different.  You may discover proof of the dishonesty or just suspect it. Client dishonesty raises many ethical issues.  What must you do to ensure your client is telling you the truth?  What if you discover a client is lying to a court or tribunal?  Are you allowed to disclose the dishonesty despite the duty of client confidentiality?  Are there degrees of client dishonesty – some acceptable, others not?  This program will provide you with a guide to the substantial ethical issues when client dishonesty is discovered or suspected.  Tension between the duty of confidentiality and the duty to be honest in communications Determining whether a client is lying – active v. passive, fact v. opinion, affirmative statements v. silence Unknowing attorney representations on basis of client dishonesty Duties of disclosure and to whom – the tribunal, third parties? Mandatory and permissive withdrawals from a case, including “noisy” withdrawals Discovery of dishonesty in closed matters   Speakers:

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 11/20/2020
    Presented
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Course1

Ethics of Beginning and Ending Client Relationships

$59.00

Substantial ethics issues flow from the moment an attorney-client relationship is formed, whether it is formed intentionally or through inadvertence.  Determining when a relationship commences and the scope of the representation has dramatic implications for issues related to confidentiality, conflicts of interest, the attorney-client privilege and more. Ending an engagement is nearly as complicated. When are you allowed to end an engagement?  And how must you go about it without prejudicing a client’s interest in a transaction or in litigation? This program will you provide a real-world guide the ethical issues of beginning and ending an attorney client relationship. Determining when and how a relationship starts – including through inadvertence Email and technology issues – how unsolicited communications may trigger ethical obligations Joint representation issues – unsorting the confidentiality and privilege issues End a relationship – when are you allowed to end an engagement?  How do you do it ethically? Circumstances when you might be required to end a relationship   Speaker:

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 11/17/2020
    Presented
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Course1

Ethics and Changing Law Firm Affiliation

$59.00

When a lawyer moves from one firm to another, it can be a fairly dramatic event.  The ethical issues for the lawyer and for his or her prior firm and new firm are substantial.  There are issues of when and how to communicate to clients and whether it’s done by the lawyer or the firm. There are issues of ongoing matters and what to do with client files.  In ongoing litigation or transactional matters, do lawyers withdraw pending a client decision about whether to move the matter to the lawyer’s next firm?  Is withdrawal even permitted?  There are also issues of conflicts of interest and how they are managed – for the lawyer who is changing law firm affiliation and for the firms involved. This program will provide you with a practical guide to ethical issues when lawyers change law firm affiliation. Ethical issues when lawyers change law firm affiliation Propriety and timing of communications with the departing lawyer’s clients – by the lawyer or the firm? Ownership and transfer of client files among law firms Ongoing litigation or transactional matters – is withdrawal permissible? Diligence for the new firm– conflicts, confidentiality, and screening Issues when a solo practitioner joins a multi-lawyer firm   Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 11/6/2020
    Presented
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Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Lawyer Ethics and Disputes with Clients

$59.00

Ethical tensions are perhaps never as great as when a lawyer is in dispute with a client. The dispute may arise over fees, communication, perceived conflicts of interest, or something else.  In these and other circumstances, the lawyer’s duties of loyalty, zealous representation and confidentiality are all brought into direct conflict with the lawyer’s interest in self-defense. In these extremely delicate circumstances, the lawyer must determine what information may disclosed in his or her self-defense, its impact on the attorney-client privilege, and what steps he or she can take to de-escalate the conflict.  This program will provide you with a real-world guide to the ethical issues for a lawyer when he or she is in conflict with a client. Disputes involving lawyers’ fees, communications, unfavorable result of representation, conflicts of interest, malpractice claims Confidentiality and self-defense – what disclosure of confidences is permissible?   Waivers and engagement letters to prevent dispute – or mitigate their damage Permissible and mandatory withdrawals from a representation Special attorney-client privilege issues in these disputes   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School. Elizabeth Treubert Simon is an ethics attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, where she advises on a wide range of ethics and compliance-related matters to support Akin Gump’s offices worldwide.  Previously, her practice focused on business and commercial litigation and providing counsel to clients regarding professional ethics and attorney disciplinary procedures.  She is a member of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Discipline and the District of Columbia Rules of Professional Conduct Rules Review Committee.  She is the immediate past chair of the District of Columbia Legal Ethics Committee.  She writes and speaks extensively on attorney ethics issues.   She received her B.A. and M.S. from the University of Pennsylvania and her J.D. from Albany Law School.

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 11/2/2020
    Presented
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Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Lawyer Ethics and Email

$59.00

Law practice without email is difficult to imagine.  Clients and courts not only use it but expect lawyers to use it for communications. But email comes with a host of substantial ethical issues.  Is email secure?  Can it be used to – even inadvertently – create an attorney-client relationship? How does email impact the attorney-client privilege?  What about email conversations with a represented adversary?  How can confidentiality and other ethical duties be satisfied when law firms almost always work with outside vendors to provide email?  These and other substantial ethical questions will be discussed in this practical guide to the ethical issues when lawyers use email in their practices. Beginning an attorney relationship via email – intentionally and inadvertently Effect on attorney-client privilege when using a vendor for email Discarding/deleting email and working with outside vendors Ex parte communications with represented adversaries Corporate counsel issues – in-house creation of documents, legal v. business advice Inadvertently sent email and metadata embedded in email   Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/26/2020
    Presented
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Course1

LIVE REPLAY: The Ethics of Bad Facts and Bad Law

$59.00

Every representation involves “bad” facts and/or “bad” law – facts and law that run counter to a client’s objectives.  Ethical tensions and issues arise when a lawyer has todisclose bad facts or law to a court or administrative panel, or even to an adversary. At what point does the lawyer’s duty as a member of the bar and officer of the court require disclosure even when it is adverse to a client’s interest whom the lawyer must zealously represent?  What are the limits to how a lawyer may represent an adverse fact or adverse law, even unpublished law, to an adversary?  Answering these difficulty questions may not only impact the outcome of a representation but potentially expose ethical sanction.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to the ethical issues surrounding bad facts and bad law in client representations. Lawyer ethical duties to disclose bad facts and bad law Ethical issues surrounding the representation of adverse facts to tribunals and adversaries Duties to disclose adverse legal precedent to courts and administrative panels When is a lawyer required to disclose bad fact or law versus when they may disclose? Timing issues – at what stage should adverse facts and law be disclosed? Related issues of confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege Ex parte communications with the courts – what’s ethically permissible, what’s not?   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/16/2020
    Presented
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Course1

Ethics in Trust and Estate Practice

$59.00

Trust and estate practice often sits at the intersection of money, aging clients, family drama, easy accusations of self-dealing and misdeeds, dispute – and anger.  This turbulent combination of circumstances can put attorneys in difficult ethical spots. Questions about the competence of aging clients in combination with family drama can easily lead to ethical complaints and eventually litigation. There are also issues of decision-making authority and confidentiality if someone other than the client is paying for the representation.  Conflicts of interest, especially where a longtime client may gift something to the attorney, are rife. This program will provide you with a practical guide to substantial ethical issues in trust and estate practice. Working with clients with diminished capacity and protecting against challenges Confidentiality – understanding what information is confidential and when and to whom it can be disclosed Conflicts of interest – joint and common representations, husbands and wives, multiple generations of a family Gifts from clients – what lawyers may accept, what should they decline? Special issues when someone other than the client pays for a representation   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School. Missia H. Vaselaney is a partner in the Cleveland office of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, LLP, where her practice focuses on estate planning for individuals and businesses.  She also represents clients before federal and state taxing authorities.  Ms. Vaselaney is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and has been a member of the Steering Committee for AICPA’s National Advanced Estate Planning Conference since 2001.  Ms. Vaselaney received her B.A. from the University of Dayton and her J.D. from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/9/2020
    Presented
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