Board Opinion 24 advises that a lawyer may not disclose client information to defend against the client’s accusation of wrongful conduct.
Read More »Quandaries and Quagmires: When joint clients split, what’s a lawyer to do?
OLPR conflicted on representation adverse to former client
Read More »Quandaries and Quagmires: Lawyers Board Opinion 24: some questions
The main thrust of new Lawyers Board Op. 24 is to tell lawyers that when a former client posts a few ordinary criticisms online, Rule ...
Read More »Quandaries and Quagmires: Violence, coercion and discipline
A fifth-degree assault conviction for punching out opposing counsel will get you a public reprimand. But punch someone on the basketball court, and get the ...
Read More »Quandaries and Quagmires: Words matter – especially in lawyer discipline cases
It comes as no surprise that exact wording matters in lawyer discipline, as in the practice of law. Recent public disciplines illustrate this truism. Really ...
Read More »Quandaries and quagmires: Discipline for disproportionate contingent fee
Minnesota Lawyer this week introduces a new monthly ethics column, “Professional Quandaries and Quagmires.”
Read More »Lawyer whistleblower ethics issues — a difficult duty
How should an in-house lawyer’s employment rights and duties be balanced with the ethics and fiduciary obligations of confidentiality? In Kidwell v. Sybaritic (Minn. June 24, 2010) the plurality opinion provides the civil law answer to this question, leaving the ethics debate to the concurrence and dissent. This question is also addressed in Nordling v. Northern States Power, Co., 478 N.W.2d 498 (Minn. 1991) and in the 2005 amendments to Rules 1.6, 1.13, and 3.3, Minn. R. Prof. Conduct.
Read More »Confidentially speaking, the ethics rules can be tricky
Editor’s note: In the first installment of this article published last week, we ran five out of 10 questions and answers on important confidentiality issues. ...
Read More »Confidentially speaking, the ethics rules can be tricky
Part I of II Confidentiality usually is a trump suit, because it embodies one of the leading values of legal ethics. The duty of confidentiality ...
Read More »‘Pretexting,’ prevaricating and getting the facts
When we became Minnesota lawyers, we swore, so help us God, that we would “use no falsehood or deceit.” Once admitted, we have practiced law ...
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