1. Ethics and Professional
Responsibliity
Civil Litigation II
Chapter 2

2. Ethics
and
Model Rules of Professional Conduct
• ethics -minimally acceptable conduct
• model rules of professional conduct-Codified
rules of acceptable conduct

3. Rules of Professional Conduct
• States adopt a version of rules of professional
conduct for attorneys
• Rules generally enforced by a disciplinary
process which will mete out punishment
ranging from private warnings to disbarment

4. Paralegals
and
Rules of Professional Conduct
• In states where paralegals are not
licensed, the rules of professional conduct for
do not regulate the paralegals
• Attorneys are responsible for the actions of
their paralegals

5. Principal/Agent
Attorney/Paralegal
• Principals are the supervisor of a
representative, or an agent
• Attorneys stand in the role of a principal to
the agent-paralegal
• Most states impose a duty of responsibility
upon the attorney to supervise

6. Supervising Attorney
• Under the rules of professional conduct, the
supervising attorney of a paralegal is required
to directly oversee the paralegal’s work

7. Unauthorized Practice of Law
• unauthorized practice of law (UPL) is a serious
violation of the rules of professional conduct
and usually a violation of the criminal laws of
a state

8. Paralegals and UPL
• What constitutes the practice of law?
Legal advice, setting fees and accepting cases,
appearing in court
• Most states require the work of a paralegal to
be supervised by an attorney, otherwise it
constitutes the unauthorized practice of law

9. Conflicts of Interest I
• All clients are owed a duty of loyalty; that
is, the attorney must be committed to the
client’s representation without any other
competing interests
• When an attorney has an interest thayt is in
direct conflict with their client’s interest, this
is a conflict of interest

10. Conflicts of Interest II
• Attorney’s have a fiduciary relationship with
their client; that is, they must always act with
the client’s interest as their foremost goal

11. Conflict of Interest III
• Conflict checks are often the responsibility
• Conflict checks are often done through office
management software, which, through a
database, searches for matches in the office’s
past and present client lists

12. Shifting Loyalties
• When attorneys and paralegals change
employment, they must address conflict
issues
• If, when joining a new firm, that firm is
involved in cases that attorney or paralegal
previously worked on, these cases present a
problem of conflicting interests

13. Ethical Walls
• Ethical walls or “Chinese walls” are devices
used to avoid conflict of interest when
attorney or paralegal change firms
• Ethical walls or “Chinese walls” are rules that
prevent the legal professional from
participating in cases in their new firm that
they may have worked on in their old firm

14. Confidentiality
• Duty to preserve confidentiality is one of
cornerstone’s of attorney-client relationship
• Maintaining that which is shared with counsel
during relationship

15. Confidentiality II
• Technology has brought new challenges, since
ways to lose confidentiality grow: poor
computer security, sloppy handling of
electronic information, or inadvertent
disclosure of information during electronic
discovery process.

16. Candor to the Tribunal
• The tribunal consists of an adjudicator of the
law and a trier of fact
• Attorney has a duty of candor to that tribunal

17. Duties of Candor