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Recent Articles from William J. Wernz
Quandaries & Quagmires: Attorney as witness: 3 erroneous court orders
The Office of Lawyers Responsibility (OLPR), the Minnesota Supreme Court, and the Hennepin County District Court have recently given four answers to questions about a trial lawyer acting as a witness, three of which are wrong.
Quandaries and Quagmires: When personal relationships create conflicts
The ABA has recently issued two formal opinions on when the personal relationships of judges and lawyers raise ethics issues that may require disclosure, consent, or disqualification. The opinions are in many ways instructive and in some ways flawed.
Quandaries and Quagmires: Law firms must have ethics policies and training
Questions about whether your law firm has ethics policies and training are timely, and indeed urgent, because of two recent discipline cases and increasing enforcement by the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (OLPR).
Quandaries and Quagmires: Champerty? No. Third-party litigation finance? Yes.
Abolition of champerty may well increase the frequency of litigation financing. Minnesota lawyers will have to be alert to several ethics issues.
Quandaries and Quagmires: To err is human … what comes next?
A familiar legal ethics maxim is, “We all make mistakes. What matters is what we do next.”
Quandaries and Quagmires: Lawyer departure notices — new ABA opinion
New ABA Formal Opinion 19-489 is titled, “Obligations Related to Notice When Lawyers Change Firms.”
Board proposes amending Op. 21 on disclosing malpractice
The Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board is soliciting comments on its proposal to amend Board Opinion 21.
Quandaries and Quagmires: Changes in former client conflict law
A lawyer may not, “knowingly disobey an obligation under the rules of a tribunal.” Rule 3.4(c), Minn. R. Prof. Conduct (MRPC). When does a lawyer deserve discipline for violating a ...
Court reverses discipline; attorney filed brief late
When does a lawyer deserve discipline for violating a procedural rule, such as a filing deadline? The answer is important, because the 2019 Minnesota Rules of Court book has 1,303 pages of rules.
Quandaries and Quagmires: The making of an ethics lawyer
Does the offense of ‘unshined buttons’ warrant suspension, even where the offender leads a life of constant danger?
Quandaries and Quagmires: Lawyers, judges, ethics and social media
By affecting our culture and modes of communication, social media reshapes many questions of legal and judicial ethics.
Quandaries and Quagmires: Is attorney discipline a ‘gotcha game?’
On the other hand, OLPR takes the position that discipline may be imposed, “regardless of whether an innocent oversight is to blame."
Top News
- 8th Circuit blocks deposition in $1.9M judgment fight
- South Carolina lawyer Murdaugh’s murder conviction overturned
- Rhode Island judge slams DOJ over probe of gender-affirming care
- Teen driver immune in death – but parents vicariously liable
- 6th Circuit rules immigrant detainees need bond hearings
- Lawyers for the global elite aren’t buying Trump’s gold card visa
- Minneapolis-based Weinberg to lead Taft as next firmwide managing partner
Expert Testimony
- Perspectives: Taxing issues: Court addresses property issues
- Perspectives: Daily’s 125th at ‘U’ recalls varied cases
- Commentary: Will SCOTUS rule on general warrants and 4th Amendment?
- Perspectives: Law Day: Notable Supreme Court quotes
