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Client Compatibility: Screening and (Sometimes) Firing Clients
May 20, 2015The compatibility of clients with their lawyers is an important factor in assuring quality legal services and avoiding malpractice claims. A client who does not trust their lawyer, rightly or wrongly, will be more inclined to sue the lawyer. A lawyer who cannot provide what a client expects from them Read the full post
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do: Problems in Ending Attorney Client Relationships
May 19, 2015Attorney client relationship usually end on civil terms, but not always. This article looks at some of the ethical and malpractice issues involved in the dissolution of attorney client relationships. Ordinary Situations Whether or not an attorney client relationship is ending on civil terms, it is good practice to document Read the full post
Entity Formation: Who is the Client?
May 19, 2015Representing Organizations Under Ethics Rules At first glance, the ethics rules appear to draw a clear line in entity representation. Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct (TDRPC) Rule 1.12(a) states that “(a) lawyer employed or retained by an organization represents the entity.” The rule goes on to note that the Read the full post
Who’s Your Client: How to Avoid Unintended Clients
May 19, 2015Two recent cases illustrate a common type of legal malpractice claim. In a recent case tried in Austin, a law firm was the only firm involved in a shareholder loan to the corporation, and drafted all of the documents for the transaction. A UCC-1 drafted by the firm and executed Read the full post
Do You Really Write Engagement Letters?
May 19, 2015by Jett Hanna Most lawyers by now have heard the advice to write engagement letters. Unfortunately, there is often a misunderstanding about what constitutes a good engagement letter that can protect you against potential malpractice claims. Writings that are only fee agreements or status reports are not effective engagement letters. Read the full post
Do You Need Case Management Software?
May 19, 2015By Dee Crocker Practice Management Advisor / Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund Dee Crocker has been a Practice Management Advisor with the Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund since 1992. She has been employed in law related positions for 30 years, including 3 years as a supervisor of 50 Read the full post
Law Firm Online Policies
May 19, 2015A recent article has a good outline for a law firm online activity policy. Michael P. Downey, Law Firm Online Line Activity Policy, 19 The Prof. Lawyer No. 4 pg. 4 (2009), available for a fee from http://www.abanet.org/abastore/index.cfm?fm=Product.AddToCart&pid=46200011904PDF This article correctly notes that it is difficult, if not impossible, to ban Read the full post
Social Networking: Legal Ethics and Lawyer Liability Considerations
May 19, 2015Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace: these and other social networking tools on the Internet are being used by people in all walks of life-including lawyers. This article will analyze the potential ethical issues that can occur in lawyer use of social networking. Most of the issues are variations on old themes, Read the full post
Check Frauds on Lawyers
May 19, 2015by Jett Hanna Update January 4, 2016: Check frauds such as these continue to fool Texas lawyers. Last week, we had a fraud and a narrowly avoided fraud reported to us. One of the frauds involved a name reported online here. There have been a number of reports over the Read the full post
Unsolicited Email and Obligations of Confidentiality
May 19, 2015By Jett Hanna Establishment of an attorney client relationship has always been a difficult issue at the margins. Texas law holds that a lawyer has a duty to warn a non-client that they are not a client if it is reasonable for the person to assume that they are the client. Parker Read the full post