Q: Dear Ethics Lawyer, I am mid-level partner at a firm with an active litigation practice. I use paralegals a fair amount for various tasks and have always had pretty good experiences with them, but I am not responsible for hiring and firing them, and am not in management at the firm. Recently I used a new paralegal for some work, who happens to be a distant relative of one of our practice leaders and had a bad experience. He didn’t seem to know what he was doing as to a fairly standard task, and I felt like he told me he had completed tasks that he had not done. I don’t want to rock the boat, so I plan to not use this paralegal again, and let other people form their own opinions. Given my role at the firm, this isn’t a problem is it?

Q: Dear Ethics Lawyer, Many of our vendors have a provision in their agreements limiting their liability related to their work to the amount of their fee, or to some other capped limit. Could we insert a similar provision in our standard form of engagement letter? For example, our firm has a primary malpractice insurance limit of $25 million. Could we include in our engagement letter a provision disclosing that, and limiting our liability for malpractice to the amount of our insurance?

Q: Dear Ethics Lawyer, I am an associate working with a partner on a substantial matter. The client has asked for advice concerning the potential exposure and whether it should be estimated and disclosed as a material matter to audit personnel working on the company’s financial statements. The partner believes strongly that the matter is sufficiently speculative that it need not be disclosed. However, I believe that, although arguable, the partner is wrong and that a failure to disclose the matter would cause the client to misstate its contingent liabilities. The partner considered my position, but rejected it and has determined to advise the client based on his position. What may or must I do under the ethics rules?  

Q: Dear Ethics Lawyer, I have a hiring question that I don’t think is covered by the rules. We want to hire a new LAA, and I’m talking to one at another law firm. I have no way of knowing or identifying if the LAA is or has supported any lawyer at the LAA’s current firm who is or has been on the other side of any lawyer at our firm, especially in matters that aren’t in court. My friend says that it doesn’t matter – that the Rules of Professional Conduct don’t apply to administrative assistants, they apply only to lawyers. Is that right? Do we have any duties here?   

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?