COURSE DESCRIPTION
Despite best efforts, lawyers may develop ethical conflicts with their clients. Sometimes these conflicts may initially seem like positive developments. The lawyer may seek to buy into a client’s business enterprise or participate in a transaction, be offered a gift by a client, or even develop a romantic relationship with a client. But these and many others come with substantial ethical issues. Sometimes these conflicts may be more immediately problematic, as when a lawyer leaves a law firm and wants to take his or her clients to the new firm, or when a client refuses to pay legal fees, or worse, as when the lawyer has a duty to disclose certain acts of his or her own malpractice. This program will provide you with a real world guide to lawyer conflicts with their clients and how to avoid or resolve them.
Day 1:
- Gifts – can lawyers accept from clients?
- Business – can lawyers go into business with a client?
- Departure – can lawyers take their clients to a firm?
- Former clients – what duties does a lawyer have?
Day 2:
- Dishonest clients – what must you do?
- Lawyers as witnesses – how do you handle the conflict and privilege issues?
- Clients with diminished capacity – from whom do you take instructions? What are the other issues?
- Settlements – what if a client’s tactics are improper?
- Malpractice – do you have a duty to disclose?
Speaker:
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 more than 25 years. He is chair of the Editorial Board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct. He maintains the Web site “Freivogel on Conflicts” at www.freivogelonconflicts.com.