Proposed California Ethics Opinion concludes that a lawyer’s statements about a party’s negotiating goals or willingness to compromise may include “puffery” if they are not false

By Admin | Published March 17, 2014 | Posted in Attorney misrepresentation, deceit, dishonesty, joe corsmeier, Joseph Corsmeier, Lawyer ethics, Lawyer Ethics and Professionalism, Lawyer false statements, Lawyer puffery | Tagged Tags: Attorney Ethics, Bar ethics rules, corsmeier, joseph corsmeier | Leave a comment

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert blog which will discuss the recent proposed California Bar Ethics Opinion which states statements about a party’s negotiating goals or willingness to compromise may include allowable “puffery” provided the statements do not contain false statements of material fact. The proposed opinion is Cal. State Bar Standing Comm. on Read More

Illinois Disciplinary Review Board recommends 1 year suspension with 6 months stayed for unintentional conversion of trust funds and misrepresentations to heirs

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert blog which will discuss the recent Report and Recommendation of the Illinois Disciplinary Review Board recommending a 1 year suspension with 6 months stayed and trust account probation for a lawyer who converted settlement proceeds that he received on behalf of two heirs whom he could not locate Read More

The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors considers significant trust account rule revisions related to commingling and eliminating compliance box on dues statement

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert blog which will discuss the recent review by the Florida Bar’s Board of Governors (BOG) of proposed revisions to the Trust Account Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, including commingling and the trust account check box in the annual dues statement. An article discussing these proposals is in the Read More

The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors considers revisions to confidentiality, trust account and fee rules and include definitions of retainers, flat fees, and advance fees

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert blog which will discuss the recent Notice of the Florida Bar’s Board of Governors of its intent to consider changes to the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar. The Notice is in the February 15, 2014 Florida Bar News and is on the Bar’s website here: https://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/JN/jnnews01.nsf/8c9f13012b96736985256aa900624829/d77053b5698a70ef85257c7b004b3384!OpenDocument The most Read More

The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors approves guidelines for advertising past results which prohibit past results on billboards and TV and radio advertisements

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert which will discuss the Guidelines for Advertising Past Results which were approved by the Florida Bar’s Board of Governors (BOG) on December 13, 2013 (and revised on 1/17/14) as well as the decision of the Bar’s Standing Committee on Advertising to disapprove 15 and 30 second television advertisements Read More

Illinois lawyer stipulates to a public reprimand for, inter alia, violating client confidences in her response to an unfavorable client review on AVVO

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert blog which will update my 9/9/13 blog and will discuss the January 15, 2014 Joint Stipulation between an Illinois lawyer and the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission wherein the lawyer admitted to, inter alia, violating a client’s confidences when she posted a response to a client’s allegedly Read More

Ohio Ethics Advisory Opinion states that Ohio lawyers are not prohibited from soliciting potential clients via text messages

Hello everyone and welcome to this Ethics Alert blog which will discuss the 2013 Advisory Opinion of the Ohio Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline which states that Ohio lawyers are not prohibited from soliciting potential clients via text messages with certain caveats. The Advisory Opinion is online here: https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Boards/BOC/Advisory_Opinions/2013/Op_13-002.pdf The Ohio Board of Read More

2013 in review

By Admin | Published December 31, 2013 | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 18,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many Read More