Legal Ethics Counseling & Professional Responsibility Advice

Perhaps you’ve received a letter or other threat claiming that your conduct is unethical. You’ve been accused of violating a legal ethics rule, and don’t believe you did anything wrong. You have never been the subject of any professional discipline, but you’re scared and don’t know how to handle it.

Possible Solutions:

• Get an outside opinion to help determine whether or not you actually did something wrong. Some situations are so sticky that you need experienced counsel to sort through it all and confirm your initial instincts.
• Not every ethics dispute needs to escalate into a formal complaint. Sometimes, engaging an advocate with a deep understanding of the nuances of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct can make a meaningful difference.
• If needed, I can respond on your behalf and proactively act as your advocate.

There are a variety of situations that could cause you to want to resign from a law firm. Sometimes, the firm is involved in questionable conduct or outright unethical activity. Sometimes, it’s just time to leave for your own career and to build your own business. You want the freedom and flexibility that can come with starting your own law practice.

You might expect a “classy” employer reaction to news of your impending departure. Sometimes you will be unpleasantly surprised. Departures are fraught with potential misunderstandings and unhappy reactions.

The worst situations involve a blowup and being immediately ejected from the firm. You must be prepared by knowing what ethics rules apply and your legal obligations. You don’t want your exit to be accompanied by nasty threats and improper client solicitation. You may need to defend yourself from an intimidating or hostile employer.

Possible Solutions:

• Plan your exit in advance. We work together to create a strategic exit plan for you. You will want more than a cookie-cutter law firm departure or exit plan checklist.  By planning ahead with me, you can fully understand your obligations and the obligations of your soon-to-be former employer. 
• Anticipate the unexpected. I can help you plan to leave—consistent with your obligations under the New York Rules of Professional Conduct. Together, we assess your situation, look at any unexpected or improper behavior by your former employer—and take prudent action.
• Sometimes, the best help is to mitigate the hostility of the situation. Reading threats from your former firm without support is incredibly stressful. I can step in and serve as your first line of defense. I can work to ease the situation and serve as your authority on what rules and obligations apply.

Conflicts of interest can be especially complicated. Conflicts of Interest come in a myriad of forms.

• A new hire may have potential conflicts of interest that—if imputed to the Firm—could cause real problems.
• You may want to start providing a client with “law related” or “non-legal services” as a part of your business plan. You need a strategy to do that, mindful of the conflicts and related ethics issues involved.
• You may need to navigate an unexpected current client or former client conflict of interest that gets “thrust-upon” the Firm through no fault of the Firm.
• You may be facing allegations that the Firm has dropped a client like a “hot potato” in an attempt to fairly resolve a conflict of interest. How you respond can be the difference between resolving the matter and facing a disqualification motion.

Possible Solutions:

• An outside ethics lawyer can help lead the process of navigating highly complex and tricky conflicts of interest. Usually, there is a lot at stake for all parties.
• It can make a meaningful difference to work with someone who knows both the law and how other Firms have handled similar situations.
• If waivers are at issue, you want someone who has both substantive knowledge and practical experience in resolving these matters.

These types of disputes can be some of the most difficult. There are very specific rules that govern legal fees, division of fees and fee disputes. Too often these rules can be more honored in the breach than in the observance.

Usually, emotions are running high, and potentially a lot of money is at stake. Many times, a statutory charging lien pursuant to Section 475 of the New York State Judiciary Law is at issue. These situations require an adept ability to balance aggressive advocacy with people-and-relationship skills.

Possible Solutions:

• With fee issues, you need to understand both your legal position and the practical likelihood of what might happen next.
• It is especially important to have a counselor steeped in knowledge about what your specific obligations are. You need to understand how your obligations compare to that of your adversary.
• Usually everyone’s conduct is now under a microscope. More than ever you need advice about how to be sure you are dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.

Operating a law firm can come with great risk and great reward. The more successful your firm is, the more people are involved—adding exponential complexity and risk. Growth requires ever-increasing authority and responsibility on the part of others at your firm and ever-increasing law firm supervisory responsibilities on your part. It can be critical to protect your business by managing that risk with effective risk-management policies and procedures.

Possible Solutions:

• It’s typical for law firms to implement a wide range of potential policies and procedures. These are generally included in a law firm “handbook.” Unfortunately, these policies and procedures are often hastily prepared and leave you open to risk.
• Cookie-cutter forms are not tailored to your specific business. Not every law firm is the same, and not all risks always apply equally to all law firms. You want something custom-crafted to protect against the potential risks that your specific law firm is most likely to encounter.
• Information Technology (IT) risk management policies and procedures are critical and must be narrowly tailored to protect your business. Today’s ever-increasing use of technology facilitates the practice of law. It also increases and complicates potential risk. Now is the time to prepare and put law firm information technology best practices into place to protect your law practice. 

Your marketing and legal advertising can unexpectedly arouse intense evaluation. When your conduct comes into question in an unrelated dispute, where do people go to learn about you—your marketing and advertising. A glaring violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct can spiral into an unnecessary headache.

It would be nice if the only legal advertising rule was: be honest. Unfortunately, it is far more complex. How comfortable are you with an adversary, court, or Attorney Grievance Committee staff counsel reviewing all of your marketing or legal advertising material?

Possible Solutions:

• Of course, professional marketing departments usually hate all lawyer advertising rules and restrictions. I can work with you to balance your marketing plan, business goals, and compliance with the applicable New York Rules of Professional Conduct.
• Many times, a website has been up and running for a long time. It is still helpful to get a full website review and analysis for compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct.
• Once social media comes into the picture, the potential risks are escalated. Having a review and strategic plan for use of social media consistent with the appropriate standard can help make sure you are on the right side of the line.