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Lawyers and law firms face ethical and professional responsibility issues in the day-to-day operations of their practice. It is important that these issues be resolved in a manner that is not harmful to the practice and, at the same time, does not leave the lawyer or firm exposed to liability and disciplinary action. Moses & Singer's Legal Ethics lawyers have years of experience in counseling on a variety of legal ethics, professional responsibility and risk management matters and the impact of these matters on law firm practice. Our lawyers have extensive experience in advising law firms on partnership disputes and other partner issues that require firm structural and/or operational changes. The members of this practice group are highly skilled at identifying potential ethics problems and using creative strategies to reach practical solutions to sensitive and complex issues. Some areas of our focus include:
Attorney Advertising
Attorney Charging Liens
CLE Rules
Client Papers
Conflicts of Interest
Ethical Screens
Fee Sharing
In-House Counsel
Joint Ventures
Lateral Attorney Intake
Legal Opinions
Letters of Engagement
Lobbying
Multi-Jurisdictional Practice
Negotiation Ethics
New Client Intake
Partnerships
Retainer Payments
Vendor Contracts
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING
▪ What constitutes "Advertisement" and "Solicitation" under the new attorney advertising rules and what, if any, exceptions apply?
▪ Are law firm web sites affected by the new attorney advertising rules?
▪ Can names of clients be included in law firm web sites?
▪ Are requests for proposals (RFPs) subject to the solicitation rules?
▪ Do the new advertising and solicitation rules affect firm brochures and newsletters sent to clients and prospective clients?
▪ Do advertisements have to be labeled as such?
▪ May a law firm web site include attorney rankings by Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, Martindale, Chambers and such other publications?
ATTORNEY CHARGING LIENS
▪ May a charging lien attach and be enforceable in matrimonial actions in New York?
CLE RULES
▪ What aspects of the NYS CLE Rules should "experienced attorneys" (admitted more than 2 years) at law firms and in-house be most familiar with?
▪ What are the accreditation requirements for law firms and legal departments to be CLE Providers?
CLIENT PAPERS
▪ What are client papers and to whom do they belong?
▪ Does a law firm owe a duty to disclose attorney work product materials to its former client?
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
▪ What information is needed for conflicts checking?
▪ If an adverse party belongs to the corporate family of a client, is that party also a "client" for conflicts purposes?
▪ How can a conflicts search database be kept current, accurate and reliable?
ETHICAL SCREENS
▪ May a lawyer of counsel to a law firm share certain client matters with the firm while independently representing his/her own clients?
FEE SHARING
▪ May New York law firms share legal fees with out-of-state or international law firms?
IN-HOUSE COUNSEL
▪ Do New York's ethics rules apply to in-house counsel?
JOINT VENTURES
▪ May a law firm enter into a joint venture with an existing client that it represents in other unrelated matters?
LATERAL ATTORNEY INTAKE
▪ What due diligence should be conducted before hiring a lateral attorney?
LEGAL OPINIONS
▪ What risk management practices should a law firm have for issuing third-party legal opinions on behalf of its clients?
LETTERS OF ENGAGEMENT
▪ Where a corporate representation antedates the requirement of a letter of engagement, is such a letter required to begin representing the client’s parent corporation?
▪ Does a letter of engagement for banking matters cover a later engagement for litigation matters?
▪ Are there any exceptions to the rules requiring letters of engagement?
▪ What are the consequences of not having a letter of engagement?
▪ If a law firm represents in transactional matters a client individually and an LLC of which he/she is the principal member, but does not represent the other LLC members, how can the firm protect against conflict issues?
LOBBYING
▪ May a lawyer lobby with a client for a bill in Congress?
MULTI-JURISDICTIONAL PRACTICE
▪ Can a law firm collect fees for legal services performed by one of its lawyers in a state where that lawyer is licensed and where the client is located without the law firm having an office in that state?
▪ Is it the unauthorized practice of law for a law firm to issue a legal opinion on the law of a state where the law firm has neither offices nor lawyers admitted to practice?
▪ If a law firm represents an out-of-state corporation that does not do business in its own state of incorporation, do the firm's attorneys have to satisfy attorney registration requirements in the state of incorporation?
NEGOTIATION ETHICS
▪ When is it permissible to communicate with adverse clients, directly or indirectly?
▪ What exposure does counsel have for participating in the negotiation and execution of contracts containing express or implied misrepresentations?
NEW CLIENT INTAKE
▪ What due diligence should be conducted before taking on a new client?
PARTNERSHIPS
▪ Is it ethical for a lawyer in a law firm to be a "Partner" in title only?
▪ Does an ousted law firm partner have standing to assert a discrimination claim against his/her ex-law firm?
RETAINER PAYMENTS
▪ If a law firm is unable to locate a client whose retainer balance it is holding after the representation has ended, what should it do?
VENDOR CONTRACTS
▪ What risk management practices should a law firm acting as a customer adopt when entering into third-party vendor contracts?
For more information please email us at legalethics@mosessinger.com |
