Law Commons^™

The Lawyer's Duty Of Competence In A Climate-Imperiled World, John C. Dernbach, Irma S. Russell, Matthew Bogoshian

Faculty Works

The United States has more than 1.3 million practicing lawyers. Under Model Rule 1.1 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and every state’s rules of conduct, each of these lawyers owes clients competent representation. Under the rule, “[c]ompetent representation requires the knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the services.” While law and rules will undoubtedly change in response to the climate crisis, the duty of competence does not await such change or legal reform. The ubiquitous nature of the duty of competence means it is applicable to each lawyer now and will continue to evolve as …

Can Do: Training Lawyers To Be Effective Counselors To Entrepreneurs, Anthony J. Luppino

Faculty Works

This Report is the result of a grant to the University of Missouri-Kansas City from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to research and describe current methods of training law students and lawyers destined to represent entrepreneurs, and to identify promising pedagogy in pursuit of the goal of educating effective counselors to entrepreneurial clients. Entrepreneurs clearly need help in dealing with a multitude of increasingly complex laws and regulations. They may also require counsel in obtaining financing and negotiating their transactions, within the bounds of the applicable rules, to achieve their goals. The research reflected in this Report indicates that there …

Ethical Issues For Innocence Projects: An Initial Primer, Ellen Y. Suni

Faculty Works

While the advent of DNA has led to more than 100 exonerations in the United States, few of them would have been possible without the existence of innocence projects around the country that have undertaken the often difficult work of exonerating the wrongfully convicted. More than thirty projects are now in operation, with several more in the planning stages.

As these projects have developed, issues have emerged regarding the professional responsibility obligations of attorneys and others engaged in this post-conviction work. These issues were the subject of discussion at national innocence conferences in 2000 and 2002, but that discussion, while …