COURSE DESCRIPTION
Professional responsibility extends far beyond the courtroom and law office, creating unexpected ethical obligations in business ventures, board service, and consulting roles. This program illuminates the often-overlooked ethical duties that follow lawyers into non-practice activities and alternative career paths. Discover how to maintain professional integrity while pursuing diverse opportunities outside traditional legal practice.
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Understand when professional conduct rules apply to non-legal business activities and investments
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Navigate conflicts of interest in corporate board service and consulting arrangements
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Address advertising and solicitation rules affecting lawyers in business and entrepreneurial roles
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Manage confidentiality obligations when transitioning between legal and non-legal professional roles
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.