Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Professional Responsibility

Yep, this is an actual class. Believe it or not. I mean, given the reputation most attorneys have in most circles (insert ALL of the lawyer jokes here), it's probably a good thing. But, then again, WHY MUST THIS CLASS be at 8:30 AM?!?! Seriously, most law firms start work at 9 AM. So, shouldn't class start then too? It is "professional school" after all, so, shouldn't the expectations logically fall in line with what happens in our profession? You'd think. But I digress.

Aside from the fact that this class teaches us what is "officially ethical" or something along those lines, over the course of this class, we inevitably learn that not everyone agrees on what is ethical. However, there are some basics:
  1. Get everything in writing
  2. Don't trust the confidentiality of email
  3. Confidentiality is somewhat of a fluid concept
  4. Don't start a lawyer-client relationship before you explicitly mean to
  5. If what's going on makes you feel like you should take a shower/bathe in purell to remove the skeezy-ness from your person, it's probably not ethical
  6. Gifts ≠ payment of fees
  7. You cannot charge a client that you are sleeping with (violation #1) for the time you were engaged in non-legal activities with them (violation #2)
  8. If you think it's possible that there is any ambiguity at the end of a contract negotiation/mediation, there is
  9. If you think something is unclear, it is
  10. Don't lie. The Bar doesn't like that. Neither will anyone else.
  11. If what your client is suggesting makes your skin crawl, it's more than likely not ethical.
  12. If you're a lawyer who happens to sell drugs to small children, you will not only get in trouble with the law (duh!) but also with the Bar. (They're not fond of people who blatantly violate the law)
  13. The Bar does not like people who defraud others
Most of this is common sense, right? Particularly after the first year of law school. At least you'd think that, but NO, apparently we need a whole class to cover these issues in detail.

Sitting through these two hours makes me feel like this cat.

  Particularly when I forget to bring coffee/have other things to do.

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