Ethics & Professional Responsibility

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by Jim Doppke In my last post, I wrote about In re Karavidas, the ways in which it changed attorney regulation in Illinois, and how it can be seen as the foundation for future reform efforts. The profession – in Illinois and elsewhere – is beginning the discussion of “re-regulation,” and asking how we can change regulation in the future to best meet the needs of an innovating landscape while also…
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I recently attended my first Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA) conference right here in Chicago.   A recurring theme I heard was how to enhance legal education to change the hearts and minds of lawyers who view CLE as a time suck. If my two decades of teaching and facilitating has taught me anything, it’s that if your audience comes into the room thinking “I have a million things to do,” then the phrase “tough crowd” doesn’t even begin to describe the experience you’re going to have.  …
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Bottom line: In high-profile legal matters, attorneys and their clients must be strategic about when they engage the Court of Public Opinion. It is often said that in life, “timing is everything.” That saying applies with equal force to engaging the Court of Public Opinion. When attorneys engage the Court of Public Opinion in connection with a client’s legal dispute, they often focus on what they’re going to say and who they’re going to say…
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Today’s attorneys have discovered the importance of online lawyer reviews. While one bad review has the potential to cripple a firm, a few good reviews can provide a ton of marketing power. Timely, effective management of your online reviews can be a strong tool for generating leads. Online platforms are putting your firm’s profile as the lead component of search results, whether you’ve claimed the profile or not. Establishing and maintaining your online business presence…
“Change,” Ben Chun (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Jim Doppke As I prepare to attend the #MAKELAWBETTER conference tomorrow, I reflect on the all the talk of innovation in law – talk we sorely need. The ethics and professional responsibility realm should be, and often is, at the forefront of the discussion. As we ponder changes in methods, we should also ponder changes in norms and standards. The Illinois ethical landscape should change with …
At APRL’s annual meeting in San Francisco, RSMD’s Sari Montgomery was pleased to moderate a panel discussion entitled Why People Lie and Why Should We Care. On the panel were Donald D. Campbell, Jim Grogan of the Illinois ARDC, and filmmaker Yael Melamede, discussing Dan Ariely’s research on the science behind dishonesty. Yael’s film (Dis)Honesty: the Truth About Lies explains more about this fascinating (and timely) research. The post Sari Montgomery Moderates APRL …
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Change doesn’t come rapidly in law. That’s a good thing. The rule of law is predicated on predictability and consistency with precedent. However, if the rapid pace of changes in technology and globalization leave law behind and out of the equation, that’s a problem. Here’s where the idea of regulatory sandboxes may help. What’s a regulatory sandbox? “Regulatory sandbox” refers to a way for companies and regulators to experiment with new types of services and…
As the Model Rules of Professional Conduct demonstrate, a lawyer may serve many functions for a client: advisor, advocate, negotiator, or evaluator, to name a few.  Under any role, however, a lawyer is obligated to act with the best interests of his or her client in mind, even when the client is not paying for legal services.  In this regard, attorneys must be mindful that they owe the same professional duties to both paying and…
A new episode of Chad Main’s Technically Legal podcast, featuring a conversation with RSMD’s Jim Doppke, is now live. Jim was a guest on Technically Legal’s first episode, when he and Chad discussed the general boundaries of the duty of competence as it applies to technology. He’s pleased to return to discuss still more ethics issues pertaining to legal tech, this time examining the ethical dimensions of artificial intelligence, predictive coding, and more.…