Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons^™

Foreword, The Honorable L. A. Harris Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

“Your writing is so bad you will not be considered for Law Review and there is some question about your admittance to Law School.”

Life is strange and ironic. In 1974 as a second year law student at the T. C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond, I was invited to submit an article to determine if I would be permitted to serve on the Law Review. A member of the Law Review evaluated my article and met with me. In summation he said my writing was so bad that I would not be considered for Law …

The Legal Ethics Of Family Separation, Milan Markovic

University of Richmond Law Review

On April 6, 2018, the Trump administration announced a “zero tolerance” policy for individuals who crossed the U.S. border illegally. As part of this policy, the administration prosecuted parents with minor children for unlawful entry; previous administrations generally placed families in civil removal proceedings. Since U.S. law does not allow children to be held in immigration detention facilities pending their parents’ prosecution, the new policy caused thousands of children to be separated from their parents. Hundreds of families have yet to be reunited.

Despite a consensus that the family separation policy was cruel and ineffective, there has been minimal focus …

Ethical Blindspots In Adoption Lawyering, Malinda L. Seymore

University of Richmond Law Review

This Article discusses ethical issues relevant to adoption attorneys, as well as the lessons from behavioral ethics that inform the ethical blind spots common in the practice. The Model Rules for attorneys address a number of areas relevant to the complexitiesof adoption practice. Rules relating to competency and confidentiality, conflicts of interest and dual representation, and the lawyer’s roles as counselor as well as advocate are particularly germane. Although much has been written about the dual representation issue in adoption, other issues of professional responsibility in adoption cases have not been as carefully explored. This Article seeks to remedy that. …

Improving Lawyers’ Health By Addressing The Impact Of Adverse Childhood Experiences, Karen Oehme, Nat Stern

University of Richmond Law Review

Although the legal profession has recognized the importance of improving attorneys’ mental health, it has largely ignored recent social and scientific research on how adverse childhood experiences (“ACEs”) can harm attorneys’ long-term well-being. This article reviews the science of ACEs and argues that law schools and the legal profession should educate law students and attorneys about the impact of prior trauma on behavioral health. Without such education, law schools and the legal system are missing a crucial opportunity to help lawyers prevent and alleviate the maladaptive coping mechanisms that are associated with ACEs. Until such knowledge is widespread, many lawyers …

Professional Responsibility, James Mccauley

University of Richmond Law Review

This article briefly describes some recent amendments to the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct adopted by the Supreme Court of Virginia in 2016 and 2017. The changes affect the lawyer’s duty to protect confidential client information in this digital age, lawyer advertising and solicitation, and candor with a tribunal. The article also discusses two legal ethics opinions adopted by the court addressing a lawyer’s obligations when faced with another lawyer suffering from an impairment.

Classified Information Cases On The Ground: Altering The Attorney-Client Relationship, Paul G. Gill

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Professional Responsibility, James M. Mccauley

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Professional Responsibility, James M. Mccauley

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Professional Responsibility, James M. Mccauley

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Change Is In The Air: Lawyer Advertising And The Internet, Louise L. Hill

University of Richmond Law Review

Today, virtually all the large law firms, as well as most of the small firms, have Web sites. These sites established by law firms vary considerably, with many containing a great deal of material that is informational in nature. When considering whether state ethics rules are applicable to lawyer communications on the Internet, an initial question is whether the communication is commercial speech. Regulations on advertising and solicitation that impose restrictions on commercial speech are limited to speech of that kind. This notwithstanding, states have uniformly held that these communications are subject to regulation under their respective rules governing lawyer …

Ad Rules Infinitum: The Need For Alternatives To State-Based Ethics Governing Legal Services Marketing, William E. Hornsby Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

For most of the Twentieth Century, lawyer advertising was prohibited. Beginning with the Canons of Ethics ("Canons"), adopted by the American Bar Association (the "ABA" or "Association") in 1908, it was unethical for lawyers to advertise or engage in most forms of marketing. The 1977 United States Supreme Court decision of Bates v. State Bar of Arizona held that, under the First Amendment doctrine of commercial speech, states did not have the right to ban lawyer advertising. The decision, however, gave states the responsibility to regulate this activity. This began an experiment to balance consumer protection with the flow of …

Lawyer Advertising And The Philosophical Origins Of The Commercial Speech Doctrine, Ronald D. Rotunda

University of Richmond Law Review

The topic of lawyers advertising for clients seems prosaic enough, but it is really a subset of a much larger, more theoretical question. What Americans think about the Constitutional right of lawyers to advertise and market their services both reflects and molds what we think about the right to be left alone. In 1928, Justice Brandeis, in his famous dissent in Olmstead v. United States, wrote that our Constitution "conferred, as against the Government, the right to be left alone-the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men." Justice Brandeis did not speak in a vacuum; …

Treating Persons As Ends In Themselves: The Legal Implications Of A Kantian Principle, R. George Wright

University of Richmond Law Review

In one of the most stirring passages in modern ethics, Immanuel Kant famously enjoins: "act that you use humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means." Precisely what Kant means here, however, is not entirely clear. More than one interpretation of this formula is possible. But the importance of Kant's "formula of ends" in modern moral philosophy is impossi- ble to deny.

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Professional Responsibility, James M. Mccauley, Michael L. Rigsby

University of Richmond Law Review

On October 18, 1996, the Virginia State Bar Council (Council) approved a change in the format of the Code of Professional Responsibility (Code) from canons, disciplinary rules, and ethical considerations to the Model Rules of the American Bar Association (Model Rules). The first twenty-one rules, Model Rules 1.1 through 2.5, were approved in substance with some amendments at the Council's meeting on June 19, 1997. This approval represents approximately one-third of the conversion from the Code to the Model Rules. The second installment of the conversion was approved by Council at its October 1997 meeting. Notwithstanding Council's approval of this …

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Motions For Sanctions, W. Hamilton Bryson

University of Richmond Law Review

For centuries, the legal profession has had rules of professional conduct. Although they were unwritten, they were well known. The rules covered honesty in pleading and practice and also required the general politeness expected of decent people. These rules were not always followed, nor were they always enforced when not followed. Sadly, in modern times, these rules are being disregarded more frequently and the costs to others, both within and outside the profession, are increasing dramatically.

Legal Advice Toward Illegal Ends, Joel S. Newman

University of Richmond Law Review

Suppose you discovered a wonderful fishing hole hidden on some public lands. Would you be obligated to tell others about it? Of course not. But, could you go out of your way to hide its existence? Of course not-especially not from your friends.

Another "Solemn Public Lie", Frederick Bernays Wiener

University of Richmond Law Review

When Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, and the founder of religious toleration in what was to become the United States of America, examined the charter that King James I had given the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, he found in that document two significant misstatements. Williams first pointed out the falsity of the recital wherein the King "blessed God that he was the first Christian Prince that had discovered this land."' He then denounced the royal land grant to the Massachusetts Bay Company, because that land belonged, not to the King, but to …

Unlocking The Chamber Doors: Limiting Confidentiality In Proceedings Before The Virginia Judicial Inquiry And Review Commission, Brian R. Pitney

University of Richmond Law Review

In a Mississippi case, a judge imposed and collected criminal fines, then willfully and fraudulently documented the case as dismissed, keeping the money for himself. In California, the Commission of Judicial Qualifications removed a judge for prodding an attorney with a "dildo," grabbing a court commissioner by his testicles in a public hallway, and habitually making offensive sexual remarks at his office. A Massachusetts judge received public censure for making derogatory and obscene references to members of the bench and bar, becoming intoxicated and urinating in public, and setting unusually high bail for African-American defendants. After a Federal Bureau of …

Building Chinese Walls In Virginia: Should Virginia Recognize The Chinese Wall Defense To Vicarious Disqualification?, C. Randolph Sullivan

University of Richmond Law Review

A Chinese wall is essentially a screening mechanism set up within an institution to act as an "impermeable barrier to intrafirm exchange of confidential information." To prevent inadvertent "leakage" of confidential information, a number of precautions may be taken, including the establishment of organizational and physical structures designed to separate those who possess information from those who should not have it." Although of relatively new use in the legal profession, this type of "wall" is not new. Banks and securities firms, in an effort to protect their clients' financial confidences, routinely erect Chinese walls.

The Discourse Ethics Alternative To Rust V. Sullivan, Gary Charles Leedes

University of Richmond Law Review

Legal theorists in the United States should pay more attention to Jiirgen Habermas. His theory of discourse ethics provides us with an enriched understanding of the term "normative validity." Discourse ethics "is concerned ...with the grounding of normativity . . .; its central focus is the . . . specification of appropriate validation procedures."' Once participants in political discourse agree on validation procedures, they are then in a position to achieve a fully rational consensus about normatively right laws that are in everyone's best interests.

Procedural Solutions To The Attorney's Fee Problem In Complex Litigation, Christopher P. Lu

University of Richmond Law Review

Justice William Brennan once observed that disputes about attorneys' fees are "one of the least socially productive types of litigation imaginable." Socially productive or not, attorneys' fees are a major problem in complex litigation today because of both the time and resources needed to determine appropriate fees and the public perception that fees are excessive. While the attorneys' fee problem is not unique to complex suits, the problem is magnified because: 1) complex suits are often more protracted than ordinary suits and necessarily require more lawyers; 2) many fee shifting statutes can be triggered in complex suits; and 3) class …

The Availability Of Attorneys' Fees As A Necessary Cost Of Response In Private Cost-Recovery Actions Under Cercla, Heather M. Harvey

University of Richmond Law Review

In 1980, Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act ("CERCLA"). Its purpose was to remedy the environmental problems caused by abandoned hazardous waste sites. Prior to 1980, hazardous waste had been regulated primarily by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ("RCRA") and, to a lesser extent, by the Toxic Substances Control Act ("TSCA"). These statutes focused on the prevention of hazardous waste problems. Consequently, they proved inadequate to deal with the increasing threats posed by existing hazardous waste sites.' Congress drafted CERCLA to fill in the gap left by prior legislation.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Professional Responsibility, Timothy M. Kaine

University of Richmond Law Review

This year, like many years, has been marked by increasing public concern over legal ethics. Public attention has been drawn to lawyers' participation in scandals such as the misuse of funds by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the collapse of the savings and loan industry, and numerous ethical breaches by members of Congress.

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Professional Responsibility, Susan B. Spielberg

University of Richmond Law Review

This year, 1989, may become known as the Ethics Year as accounts of questionable behavior of public, governmental and leading business figures, many of whom are lawyers, proliferate in the media. Questionable ethical behavior leads to the erosion of public confidence in the legal profession and demonstrates the need for increased scrutiny of the conduct of lawyers in both their professional and private capacities.

Facilitative Ethics In Divorce Mediation: A Law And Process Approach, Steven H. Hobbs

University of Richmond Law Review

Mediation is becoming a vital part of family legal problem solving and is creating new challenges for the lawyer practicing in the family law setting. The American Bar Association, the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts and others recently have proposed standards of behavior for mediators where none have existed before. States also have attempted to define the appropriate realm of ethical practice for family mediation.

The Federal Trade Commission's Evolving Deception Policy, Jack E. Karns

University of Richmond Law Review

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has regulated competitive business activities since its inception in 1915. Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) empowers the Commission to enjoin certain unfair -and deceptive business practices. As is the case with other regulatory statutes, Congress chose not to define certain terms in the FTCA, such as "deceptive," leaving this task to the FTC and the federal courts. The result has been a steady flow of federal case law clarifying the definition of a deceptive business act or practice.