From the category archives:

Ethics

A Non-Engagement Letter Is As Important As An Engagement Letter

March 11, 2010

In this electronic age, lawyers can encounter potential clients in more places and in more ways than ever before. Many lawyers will speak with potential clients by telephone rather than requiring the prospective client to come in to the office for an initial consultation.
More and more often, the lawyer never meets the potential client. But even when [...]

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Pssst, Buddy—Wanna Buy a Client?

February 4, 2010

Running a successful law practice is all about getting clients. One way is by building a referral network, a frequent topic on Lawyerist. Another way is by advertising, such as in the yellow pages.
As traditional advertising methods wane, lawyers are getting excited by new methods of attracting clients through the internet. All those potential clients [...]

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A Family and Friends Plan for Your Law Firm

November 17, 2009

A family member or close friend calls you one day with a “quick” question. Seems she has a dispute with a neighbor or she just got denied a promotion or she needs to tell the renter of her duplex to stop smoking in his unit. She knows you are really busy but was wondering if [...]

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Emailing clients at work: privilege trumps employer policy

July 21, 2009

A few months ago, I posted a warning to lawyers about emailing clients at work. My concern was based in large part on a NJ district court decision that found an employee had waived the attorney-client privilege for emails that she sent to her attorney while using her work computer. Although the emails had been [...]

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Legal marketing ethics in a Web 2.0 world

July 17, 2009

As I signed off of the American Bar Association’s CLE webcast and phone conference yesterday, Ethical Implications of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World, I was left, not surprisingly, with more questions than answers. The CLE provided no magic bullet or easy catch-all answer, but the speakers—Micah Buchdahl, Michael P. Downey, and Scott G. Wolfe, [...]

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When lawyers spy through Facebook: the ethics of “regional network” changes

July 8, 2009

A colleague sent me a fascinating legal ethics question today via email. Can a lawyer in City A go to Facebook and change the regional network that she lists on her personal Facebook account from City A where she lives and works as an attorney to City B in order to investigate a witness or [...]

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Facebook ethics: it’s not about Facebook

June 23, 2009

There is a good deal of postulating in the blogosphere about the types of ethical trouble a lawyer can get into by using social media. The nattering nabobs of negativism warn us to be careful when using social media like Facebook or Twitter, lest we unwittingly disclose client confidences, improperly solicit new clients, or misrepresent [...]

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What not to say to a judge

June 3, 2009

Ashton O’Dwyer, Jr.’s handwritten response to a contempt order (PDF) is a standout example of what not to do. Never tell a federal judge—or any judge, for that matter—”Screw You!” And if you happen to do it once, over the phone, it is probably best not to repeat it in a public court filing.
This filing [...]

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Does your firm have a social media policy?

June 2, 2009

Social networking has grown exponentially in popularity over the past year. More people are using social networking sites for all manner of things. So, are your employees using these services to discuss the work they do?
If so, how could that help or hurt your law firm or company? With a social networking policy, you can [...]

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Public interest law grads now get LexisNexis for free

May 15, 2009

In response to feedback (including some from yours truly) from bloggers, students and law school administrators, LexisNexis has expanded the free legal research services it is providing to law school graduates doing work for the public good.
Kudos to LexisNexis for the quick turn-around.
Last week the company was offering free legal research services through its new [...]

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