Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
-
- Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility (71)
- Legal Remedies (57)
- Law and Society (44)
- State and Local Government Law (25)
- Courts (15)
-
- Legal Education (13)
- Judges (11)
- Legal History (11)
- Legal Writing and Research (9)
- Criminal Law (8)
- Social and Behavioral Sciences (8)
- Medicine and Health Sciences (7)
- Business (5)
- Civil Law (5)
- Civil Procedure (5)
- Law and Politics (5)
- Law and Psychology (5)
- Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics (4)
- Computer Law (4)
- Legal Biography (4)
- Banking and Finance Law (3)
- Computer Sciences (3)
- Evidence (3)
- Information Security (3)
- Law Enforcement and Corrections (3)
- Law and Race (3)
- Legal Studies (3)
- Physical Sciences and Mathematics (3)
- Keyword
-
- Legal ethics (27)
- Ethics (19)
- Legal profession (15)
- Model Rules of Professional Conduct (11)
- Lawyer (10)
-
- Legal malpractice (10)
- Attorney (9)
- Attorney ethics (8)
- St. Mary’s Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics (8)
- Lawyer ethics (7)
- Texas (7)
- American Bar Association (6)
- Client (6)
- Confidentiality (6)
- Judges (5)
- Professional conduct (5)
- St. Mary’s University School of Law (5)
- Attorney-client privilege (4)
- Judiciary (4)
- Professional responsibility (4)
- Social media (4)
- State Bar of Texas (4)
- Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct (4)
- ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (3)
- American Bar Association (“ABA”) (3)
- Biography (3)
- Book review (3)
- Facebook (3)
- Impropriety (3)
- Internet (3)
Articles 61 - 72 of 72
Full-Text Articles in Legal Profession
The Impact Of Technological Developments On The Rules Of Attorney Ethics Regarding Attorney–Client Privilege, Confidentiality, And Social Media, Pamela A. Bresnahan, Lucian T. Pera
The Impact Of Technological Developments On The Rules Of Attorney Ethics Regarding Attorney–Client Privilege, Confidentiality, And Social Media, Pamela A. Bresnahan, Lucian T. Pera
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
This article focuses on the development of the law of ethics and technology. Emphasis is placed on how technological developments have affected the rules and means by which lawyers practice law and certain ethical pitfalls that have developed hand-in-hand with technological advancements. Topics examined include: (1) the ways by which electronic communication has increased the potential for the attorney–client privilege to be waived and the resulting impact on the present-day practice of law; (2) the effect of social media on lawyers’ ethical obligations, including counseling clients regarding the client’s use of social media and the lawyer’s own use of social …
Responding To Judicial And Lawyer Misconduct: Analyzing A Survey Of State Trial Court Judges, Peter M. Koelling
Responding To Judicial And Lawyer Misconduct: Analyzing A Survey Of State Trial Court Judges, Peter M. Koelling
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
While reported cases or incidents may give us insight into the interpretation of Rule 2.15 of the Model Code of Judicial Conduct, they do not give us a sense of how often judges undertake the obligation to act under the rule. The Judicial Division of the American Bar Association developed a survey to explore the interpretation and the implementation of Rule 2.15 of the Model Code of Judicial Conduct, and to determine how and in what manner state trial court judges responded to ethical violations by lawyers and other judges. The survey looked back over a ten-year period and was …
Navigating Some Deep And Troubled Jurisprudential Waters: Lawyer–Expert Witnesses And The Twin Dangers Of Disguised Testimony And Disguised Advocacy, W. William Hodes
Navigating Some Deep And Troubled Jurisprudential Waters: Lawyer–Expert Witnesses And The Twin Dangers Of Disguised Testimony And Disguised Advocacy, W. William Hodes
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
Expert testimony is indispensable to the uniquely American system of adversary justice. Without the assistance of expert witnesses with specialized knowledge, based on either science or experience and practice, jury verdicts would often be the result of pure whim and prejudice, or random and arbitrary decision-making. At the same time, the use of compensated, partisan expert witnesses poses significant dangers to the fair and just determination of disputes. This Article examines the enhanced dangers that can appear when the expert witness is a lawyer, chiefly the pervasive use of “disguised testimony” and “disguised advocacy.” The Article concludes with some suggestions …
Legal Marketing Through The Decades: Pitfalls Of Current Marketing Trends, Tanya M. Marcum, Elizabeth A. Campbell
Legal Marketing Through The Decades: Pitfalls Of Current Marketing Trends, Tanya M. Marcum, Elizabeth A. Campbell
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
Historically, states did not place restrictions on advertising by professionals; it was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that jurisdictions began to enact prohibitions on marketing of professional services. Eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the right of professionals to advertise their services and has continued to define the right in the decades since. While lawyers have long advertised in traditional media, such as billboards and television, thanks to the exploding popularity of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, the available platforms lawyers may use to market their services will continue to multiply.
New and creative approaches …
Clearing The Smoke: The Ethics Of Multistate Legal Practice For Recreational Marijuana Dispensaries, Eric Mitchell Schumann
Clearing The Smoke: The Ethics Of Multistate Legal Practice For Recreational Marijuana Dispensaries, Eric Mitchell Schumann
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
With many firms practicing in multiple states, a lawyer could represent a marijuana dispensary in a legalized state while practicing in a state, like Texas, which continues to criminalize the drug. This raises a question of whether Texas attorneys who make the bold attempt to assist a company that sells marijuana violate the rules of professional responsibility.
In Section II, this Comment examines the background of the criminalization of marijuana and looks into the movement to liberalize the laws surrounding it. Section III analyzes the rules of professional conduct in Texas and in Colorado to determine what a lawyer in …
Avoiding Grievances: 25 Things You Can Do, David Bright
Avoiding Grievances: 25 Things You Can Do, David Bright
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
Despite the high probability lawyers face of having grievances filed against them, there are best practices a lawyer can follow to lower the risk of facing a charge. The purpose of this Essay is to identify the most common situations that give rise to grievances against conscientious, skilled lawyers; to suggest ways that those lawyers can avoid grievances; and to suggest a sensible approach for practitioners facing a grievance.
An Analysis Of Austin Lawyers Guild V. Securus Technologies, Inc.: The Constitutional And Ethical Implications Of Using Illegally Recorded Attorney–Client Telephone Conversations As Derivative Evidence, Christina Santos
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
For the justice system to operate effectively, privileged communications between an attorney and his or her client should be afforded the utmost and strictest protections. Intrusion by law enforcement upon these communications severely diminishes the confidence and candor needed in the attorney-client relationship. Although the United States Supreme Court recognizes prosecutorial immunity and generally leaves prosecutorial discipline to state bar authorities, the Court has long held that the attorney-client privilege is needed for attorneys to effectively advocate on behalf of their clients.
Austin Lawyers Guild v. Securus Technologies, Inc., a civil class-action lawsuit, is currently pending before the United …
Can Courts Require Civil Conduct?, Justice Douglas S. Lang, Haleigh Jones
Can Courts Require Civil Conduct?, Justice Douglas S. Lang, Haleigh Jones
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
There is considerable controversy on the question of whether courts can require civil conduct by lawyers, not just in Texas but across the country. To answer that question, it must be determined whether lawyer civility is at least impliedly part of the court and disciplinary rules or whether “civility” is only part of the professionalism creeds and merely “aspirational.” This Article attempts to answer this by discussing three viewpoints on enforcing civility. Further, it argues for honest recognition of the multitude of concerns about incivility and asserts that the legal profession must cultivate an increase in the spirit of civility …
Weathering The Worst Storm: How Attorneys Might Successfully Defend Their Reputation Against Attack From The Bench, Giel Stein
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
Based on the author’s personal experience with a judicial referral to a professional responsibility authority, this Essay offers lawyers a strategy to emerge from such an ordeal undisciplined. The essence of the strategy, which can be applied to a bar authority referral from any source, is to treat the process of defending oneself under such circumstances as a negotiation with bar authority counsel. The benefits of approaching such referrals as a negotiation and following the advice of Robert Fisher and William Ury about the importance of preparation, active listening, separating the people from the problem, and being hard on the …
Personal Jurisdiction In Legal Malpractice Litigation, Cassandra Burke Robertson
Personal Jurisdiction In Legal Malpractice Litigation, Cassandra Burke Robertson
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
Lawyers are increasingly engaging in multi-jurisdictional practice—and their representation is increasingly giving rise to cross-jurisdictional malpractice actions. Over the years, courts have issued divergent and contradictory opinions about whether out-of-state attorneys representing clients only on out-of-state matters can constitutionally be subject to personal jurisdiction in the client’s home state. The Supreme Court’s recent opinions in Daimler v. Bauman and Walden v. Fiore do little to settle this question and, in fact, may raise more questions than they answer. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court’s new personal jurisdiction jurisprudence offers an opportunity for courts to adopt a more cohesive analysis of personal jurisdiction …
Everyone Makes Mistakes: Attorney's Fee Recovery In Legal Malpractice Suits, Sande L. Buhai
Everyone Makes Mistakes: Attorney's Fee Recovery In Legal Malpractice Suits, Sande L. Buhai
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
This Article argues that the American Rule should be changed for legal malpractice suits because the attorney–client relationship is the quintessential fiduciary relationship and because of the added concern of unequal information available to each party as a result of the large disparity in power. Attorneys must abide by ethical rules and owe fiduciary duties to their clients, which include the duties of competence, diligence, and loyalty. Because it is this very relationship that distinguishes legal malpractice suits from an ordinary lawsuit, awarding attorney’s fees to the damaged plaintiff client helps maintain fiduciary relationships and furthers the interests of justice. …
Use Of Expunged Records In Attorney-Disciplinary Proceedings, Roland D. Ramos
Use Of Expunged Records In Attorney-Disciplinary Proceedings, Roland D. Ramos
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
The Texas Supreme Court’s decision in In re State Bar of Texas should be modified. In In re State Bar of Texas, the Court allowed the use of a criminal defendant’s expunged records in a subsequent disciplinary proceeding against his attorney. Allowing the use of expunged records for any purpose violates Texas law. For example, under the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, it is an offense to knowingly release or use expunged records for any reason, unless a court’s final expunction order permits the expunged records to be retained for future use or if a defendant waives his or …