Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons^™

Applying The Revised Aba Model Rules In The Age Of The Internet: The Problem Of Metadata, Ronald D. Rotunda

Ronald D. Rotunda

When lawyers receive a document — whether hard copy or an electronic document — that they know the adversary sent them inadvertently (for example, a fax or email mistakenly sent to an adversary lawyer instead of to co-counsel), the black letter rule in Rule 4.4 requires the lawyer to notify the other side. However, this Rule does not require the receiving lawyer to return the document unread. Whether the receiving lawyer can use that document depends, in essence, on the law of evidence. If the court decides that the document lost its privileged status (perhaps because the sending lawyer acted …

Resolving Client Conflicts By Hiring "Conflicts Counsel", Ronald D. Rotunda

Ronald D. Rotunda

A general principle of legal ethics is that a law firm may not represent a client suing someone who is also a client of the law firm (1) even though the two matters are unrelated, (2) a different law firm represents the client in that law suit, and (3) there is no risk that the lawyer would violate the confidences of any client. Other ethics rules magnify the significance of this rule by imputing the disqualification of every lawyer in the law firm to every other lawyer in the same firm. Courts enforce these rules by disqualifying the offending law …

Lawyers: Why We Are Different And Why We Are The Same: Creating Structural Incentives In Large Law Firms To Promote Ethical Behavior - In-House Ethics Counsel, Bill Padding, And In-House Ethics Training, Ronald D. Rotunda

Ronald D. Rotunda

No abstract provided.

Judicial Transparency, Judicial Ethics, And A Judicial Solution: An Inspector General For The Courts, Ronald Rotunda

Ronald D. Rotunda

Many federal judges routinely fear criticism, but that fear is unwarranted. The public is rightly concerned that the procedure to investigate and discipline problem-judges is flawed, particularly in a few high-profile cases discussed in this article. Several recent indictments of federal judges add to the problem. As Judge Ralph Winter has acknowledged, the status quo is "not a confidence builder". Judges should welcome an Inspector General for the Federal Courts, who could restore public confidence in the federal judicial discipline system. The Inspector General can investigate potential ethical violations and proceed in those few instances where more is needed. This …

Teaching Professional Responsibility And Ethics, Ronald D. Rotunda

Ronald D. Rotunda

This article discusses the development of teaching legal ethics in light of the changes in the ethics rules over the years. The thesis is that many ethics rules reflect the needs of a cartel (the legal profession) to protect itself, rather than the need to protect the clients of lawyers. The author uses stories and examples to illustrate this thesis.

Remembering Robert J. Drinan, S.J., Ronald D. Rotunda

Ronald D. Rotunda

Robert F. Drinan had a varied and full legal career, as ordained Jesuit priest, Dean of Boston College Law School, U.S. Congressman, Professor at Georgetown U. Law School, and author of many books and articles. This article summarizes his life and his contributions to legal scholarship, including, in particular, his founding of the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics.

The Propriety Of A Judge's Failure To Recuse When Being Considered For Another Position, Ronald Rotunda

Ronald D. Rotunda

Some commentators have argued that Judge John Roberts, recently confirmed as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, violated a federal statute because of his failure to recuse himself in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which a panel of the D.C. Circuit including Roberts recently decided. Several Senators raised the issue of Judge Roberts' failure to recuse himself during the course of his confirmation hearings, but the Judge did not comment on it because the case was still pending.

Any proposed "jobs recusal" rule, which would require a judge to recuse himself in such circumstances, imposes costs that …

Judicial Ethics, The Appearance Of Impropriety, And The Proposed New Aba Judicial Code, Ronald D. Rotunda

Ronald D. Rotunda

We sometimes think, loosely, that ethics is good and that therefore more is better than less. But more is not better than less, if the more exacts higher costs, measured in terms of vague rules that impose unnecessary and excessive burdens. Overly-vague ethics rules impose costs on the judicial system and the litigants, which we should weigh when determining whether to impose ill-defined and indefinite ethics prohibitions on judges. Unnecessarily imprecise ethics rules allow and tempt critics, with minimum effort, to levy a plausible and serious charge that the judge has violated the ethics rules. Overuse not only invites abuse …