Law Commons^™

Resolving The Mdp Issue: Deciding If The Status Quo Is What's Best For The Client, Julia J. Hall

Mercer Law Review

On the forefront of the current debate surrounding legal ethics is the heated question of whether the legal profession should permit its members to participate in multidisciplinary practices or partnerships ("MDPs") and thereby share fees with nonlawyers. Currently, this conduct is prohibited by the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. This issue clearly has global implications for various professions desiring to partner with attorneys, and those persons with interest in this area have followed the debate closely as viewpoints are researched and expressed in support of one position over another. Nonetheless, the American Bar Association ("ABA") has effectively closed the door …

Session Three: Fairness Issues In Negotiation

Mercer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Symposium Speech - Those Who Worry About The Ethics Of Negotiation Should Never Be Viewed As Just Another Set Of Service Providers, Lawrence J. Fox

Mercer Law Review

It is an honor to address this distinguished group of lawyers and law students this evening as part of the very first Symposium funded by the duPont Company's generosity by way of Judge Lawson. The issues important themes in the bigger professional responsibility arena, and examining them with this level of care can inform the profession more widely.

It is ironic then that when Professor Pat Longan invited me to give the keynote address, he himself negotiated my appearance in a highly questionable manner. "Would I like to be the keynote speaker at this upcoming Symposium?" Would I? Of course, …

Symposium Introduction - Ethics In Settlement Negotiations: Foreward, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

On March 9 and 10, 2001, Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law and its Mercer Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism held a Symposium on ethical issues in settlement negotiations. Funding for the Symposium came from a consent order, signed by United States District Judge Hugh Lawson, in which the DuPont Corporation settled claims of litigation misconduct in exchange for a payment of $11 million. Each of the four accredited law schools in Georgia received $2.5 million to endow a faculty chair in ethics and professionalism, and the other $1 million was set aside to endow an annual …

Session Two: Conditional Settlement Agreements

Mercer Law Review

A transcript featuring The Honorable Marvin Aspen, Evett Simmons, Esq., Professor Ronald Ellington, and Professor Bruce Green, Moderator

Legal Ethics, L. Ray Patterson, William P. Smith Iii

Mercer Law Review

Two events of particular importance to Georgia lawyers occurred during the survey period. First, the Supreme Court of Georgia adopted The Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct on June 12, 2000 to become effective January 1, 2001. The basis for the new rules is the American Bar Association ("ABA") Model Rules of Professional Conduct, adopted by the ABA in 1983 to supersede the ABA Model Code of Professional Responsibility. The new code will replace both the Georgia Code of Professional Responsibility and the Standards of the State Bar Rules. Second, the American Law Institute adopted the Restatement of the Law Governing …

Legal Ethics, Roy M. Sobelson

Mercer Law Review

This Article covers the rules, cases, ethics opinions, and other matters decided by the Georgia Supreme Court, the Georgia Court of Appeals, and a federal district court between June 1, 1998, and May 31, 1999, that have most affected, or may affect, Georgia lawyers. Many eyepopping headlines about lawyers and their profession filled the survey period. Although very few of the underlying cases made or changed any substantive law, they may well have substantially altered the landscape of lawyering, creating or illuminating various pitfalls and land mines.

One Georgia lawyer, disbarred for murdering his landlord, avoided the death penalty only …

A Panel Discussion On A Proposed Code Of Ethics For Legal Commentators

Mercer Law Review

Featuring:

• Raymond M. Brown
• Paul Butler
• Erwin Chemerinsky
• Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr.
• Laurie L. Levenson
• John H. McElhaney
• Barry C. Scheck
• Mary Tillotson

Moderator: Professor James P. Fleissner

A Ransom Note From The Opposition To The Proposed Rules Of Ethics For Legal Commentators, Raymond M. Brown

Mercer Law Review

Hijack the question!

That is a soupçon of tactical knowledge that every lawyer sojourning on the TV frontier absorbs quickly. In the fast-paced realm of the electronic media, there are limited opportunities to speak. To be effective you must disregard the dictates of politeness ingested at your mother's knee, ignore the question presented, and make your point succinctly. To wit:

Question: Do you think Bill Clinton should be impeached?

Answer: I think the abuse of power by Ken Starr doomed the Office of Independent Counsel and set a dangerous example for a whole generation of prosecutors.

Because the proponents of …

Symposium Introduction, Jennifer L. Motos, Jacob E. Daly

Mercer Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Being A Commentator Iii, Erwin Chemerinsky, Laurie Levenson

Mercer Law Review

The use of lawyers and law professors as commentators continues to increase. Although reporters have long used experts to explain and evaluate, in the last decade legal commentators have become a fixture in news stories about legal proceedings. A decade ago, when the McMartin Preschool case filled the news in Los Angeles, scarcely a commentator was used. A few years later, when the officers who beat Rodney King were tried in state court, daily legal commentary was absent. In sharp contrast, commentators were used on a regular basis during the federal prosecution of those officers. The subsequent trial of two …

The Legal Advice Requirement Of The Attorney-Client Privilege: A Special Problem For In-House Counsel And Outside Attorneys Representing Corporations, Grace M. Giesel

Mercer Law Review

The attorney-client privilege protects certain communications between attorney and client from compelled disclosure. The privilege applies to clients who are individuals as well as to corporate clients. The lawyers providing legal services to corporations may be outside attorneys who are employees of law firms. Many corporations, however, rely on in-house attorneys for many, if not all, of their legal needs. Often, in-house attorneys have official responsibilities that involve them in the management of the company. Even if the attorneys do not have official nonlegal responsibilities, the corporation may seek the opinion of inhouse attorneys with regard to all sorts of …

Legal Ethics, Roy M. Sobelson

Mercer Law Review

The survey period was relatively quiet in terms of judicial and legislative developments in the Legal Ethics area. Nevertheless, it may prove to be an important transition period in the history of the State Bar of Georgia, insofar as lawyer discipline and consumer assistance is concerned. On June 1, 1995, the State Bar of Georgia began an experimental Consumer Assistance Program, sometimes known as "Central Intake." The reason for the program was simple. History has shown that the vast majority of complaints about lawyers do not raise disciplinary issues at all. In the past, such nondisciplinary complaints were summarily dismissed, …

Legal Ethics, J. Randolph Evans, Anthony W. Morris

Mercer Law Review

In 1989, the Supreme Court of Georgia and the State Bar of Georgia embarked upon what they considered a long-range project-to raise the level of professionalism of lawyers in the state. Accordingly, the Georgia Supreme Court established the Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism, the first such body of its kind in the entire nation. Its primary mission is to ensure that the practice of law is engaged in the service not only of the client, but also of the public at large.

During the past year, the Georgia appellate courts have focused their attention on professionalism. The courts issued significant …

Legal Ethics, Jack L. Sammons

Mercer Law Review

The dominant event during this surveyed period' is not an event at all. It is instead a struggle so pervasive that its lurking presence is felt behind every important case and Formal Advisory Opinion ("FAO") decided this year. This struggle is between the two primary functions that the Georgia appellate courts perform in this area of law: the normal judicial function and the regulation of the legal profession. This second function is a legislative and an interpretative one. Appellate courts in Georgia perform the interpretive function in both an advisory capacity through FAO's and in a judicial capacity through case …

Legal Ethics, Roy M. Sobelson

Mercer Law Review

One of the traditional hallmarks of the American legal profession has been its virtual freedom from regulation. If there is any theme evident in recent developments in the legal ethics field, it is that this freedom is under increasing attack from clients, courts, the bar, and the legislature. The year 1992 was no exception, with a number of challenges made to the authority of individual lawyers and the profession itself. The Supreme Court of Georgia rejected one lawyer's challenge to mandatory court appointments and another's freedom to contract with a client for unlimited authority to settle cases.

The supreme court …

Legal Ethics, L. Ray Patterson

Mercer Law Review

With one exception, the legal ethics cases this year involved well established rules of law. The case constituting the exception dealt with the breach of a rule of ethics as the basis for a malpractice claim. This Article will discuss that issue first and then will proceed to discuss other relevant cases.