COURSE DESCRIPTION
Lawyers must always be truthful in their representations. Yet they must be zealous in representing clients. The tension between these two principles is perhaps never as great as when the lawyer is negotiating for a client. The lawyer may make statements about the law or fact – or simply refrain from making statements because the lawyer knows certain facts or legal precedent are adverse to a client’s interest. Lawyers may also boast, signaling that a client’s position is stronger than is, in fact, the case. Navigating these gray lines is the difference between ethical representation and impropriety. This program will provide you with a guide to ethical issues in negotiations.
- Truthful representations v. zealous representations?
- Affirmative statements of fact, value or intent in settlements
- Silence about adverse law in negotiations
- Silence about facts unknown to an opponent or counter-party
- Silence about errors in settlement agreements or transactional documents
- Non-litigation work in another state – “temporary” practice
Speakers:
Anthony Licata is a partner in the Chicago office of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, where he formerly chaired the firm’s real estate practice. He has an extensive practice focusing on major commercial real estate transactions, including finance, development, leasing, and land use. He formerly served as an adjunct professor at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Mr. Licata received his B.S., summa cum laude, from MacMurray College and his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
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.