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Recent Articles from William J. Wernz
Quandaries and Quagmires: Board forbids lawyer self-defense in public forum
Board Opinion 24 advises that a lawyer may not disclose client information to defend against the client’s accusation of wrongful conduct.
Quandaries and Quagmires: When joint clients split, what’s a lawyer to do?
OLPR conflicted on representation adverse to former client
Quandaries and Quagmires: Lawyers Board Opinion 24: some questions
Are the comments to the Rules of Professional Conduct a basis for discipline, or “guides to interpretation,” or are they published merely “for convenience?” May the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (OLPR) use the comments for discipline purposes? These are important questions, especially because the text of the 400-plus comments now far exceeds that of [...]
Quandaries and Quagmires: Violence, coercion and discipline
Are the comments to the Rules of Professional Conduct a basis for discipline, or “guides to interpretation,” or are they published merely “for convenience?” May the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (OLPR) use the comments for discipline purposes? These are important questions, especially because the text of the 400-plus comments now far exceeds that of [...]
Quandaries and Quagmires: Words matter – especially in lawyer discipline cases
Are the comments to the Rules of Professional Conduct a basis for discipline, or “guides to interpretation,” or are they published merely “for convenience?” May the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (OLPR) use the comments for discipline purposes? These are important questions, especially because the text of the 400-plus comments now far exceeds that of [...]
Quandaries and quagmires: Discipline for disproportionate contingent fee
Minnesota Lawyer this week introduces a new monthly ethics column, “Professional Quandaries and Quagmires.”
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[...]
Confidentially speaking, the ethics rules can be tricky
Are the comments to the Rules of Professional Conduct a basis for discipline, or “guides to interpretation,” or are they published merely “for convenience?” May the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (OLPR) use the comments for discipline purposes? These are important questions, especially because the text of the 400-plus comments now far exceeds that of [...]
Confidentially speaking, the ethics rules can be tricky
Are the comments to the Rules of Professional Conduct a basis for discipline, or “guides to interpretation,” or are they published merely “for convenience?” May the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (OLPR) use the comments for discipline purposes? These are important questions, especially because the text of the 400-plus comments now far exceeds that of [...]
‘Pretexting,’ prevaricating and getting the facts
Are the comments to the Rules of Professional Conduct a basis for discipline, or “guides to interpretation,” or are they published merely “for convenience?” May the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (OLPR) use the comments for discipline purposes? These are important questions, especially because the text of the 400-plus comments now far exceeds that of [...]
‘Pretexting,’ prevaricating and getting the facts
Are the comments to the Rules of Professional Conduct a basis for discipline, or “guides to interpretation,” or are they published merely “for convenience?” May the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (OLPR) use the comments for discipline purposes? These are important questions, especially because the text of the 400-plus comments now far exceeds that of [...]
‘Pretexting,’ prevaricating and getting the facts
Are the comments to the Rules of Professional Conduct a basis for discipline, or “guides to interpretation,” or are they published merely “for convenience?” May the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (OLPR) use the comments for discipline purposes? These are important questions, especially because the text of the 400-plus comments now far exceeds that of [...]
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