Q: Dear Ethics Lawyer, I just returned from our firm retreat, where after a time in the hospitality room, my partner and I had a philosophical discussion about whether as a profession lawyers have eroded their usefulness to clients (and competitive advantage over others such as the large accounting firms) by creating exceptions to privilege and non-disclosure of information otherwise protected by Rule 1.6, imposing ever-increasing duties to inquire into the bona fides and intentions of clients even in the absence of red flags of wrongdoing. What do you think about this?
Continue Reading October 16 Issue – Evolution of Attorney Client RelationshipThe twice-monthly “Dear Ethics Lawyer” column is part of a training regimen of the Legal Ethics Project, authored by Mark Hinderks, former managing partner and counsel to an AmLaw 200 firm. Read More
October 2023
October 2 Issue – Law-Related Businesses
By Mark Hinderks on
Q: Dear Ethics Lawyer, It is hard to make money practicing law, especially with the darn Model Rules always getting in the way: conflicts, multi-jurisdictional practice issues, etc. But, I’ve got an idea. We’ve got some finance/computer whizzes who’ve worked out a breakthrough tool for legal matter budgeting, scheduling and reporting, incorporating AI to learn from existing matters. I figure we can form a separate company, using our firm’s techno-people part-time to sell their expertise to other firms. It’s not even the practice of law, so we can ignore the advertising and conflict rules and all the other requirements that get in the way. What do you think?
Continue Reading October 2 Issue – Law-Related Businesses