Resources

Our Resource Center includes our TLI Top Tips, articles, and links to other third party resources to assist our members with their loss prevention and best practices efforts.

News, Articles, & Top Tips

TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Rule 1.08 Doing Business with a Client

Today’s Top Tip continues our series discussing the new and amended Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct. Rule 1.08 received a substantial rewrite while retaining its…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: New Rule 5.01 Requirements for Managing and Supervisory Lawyers 

The recently-adopted changes to Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 5.01 impose new requirements on lawyers regarding their oversight of other lawyers.  First, lawyers with managerial…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: New Terminology in the Rules – “Confirmed in Writing”

Last week, we highlighted the newly defined phrase “informed consent.” This week’s Top Tip layers “confirmed in writing” onto informed consent. It is critical,…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: New Terminology in the Rules – “Informed Consent”

Effective October 1, 2024, the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct will contain new terminology, including the definition of “Informed consent.”  It is important to…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Supreme Court of Texas Issues Order Adopting New Rules

In our August 1, 2024 Top Tip, we gave an update on the next steps regarding the Rules referendum that took place in April of…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Threatening a Grievance – Is It Ever a Good Idea?

Litigation and negotiation often get heated as lawyers zealously represent their clients’ interests. Sometimes, one lawyer may come to believe that his opposing counsel…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Candor

Most lawyers know that they have a duty of candor to a tribunal, and this means they cannot misrepresent the law or the facts…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Top: ABA Opinion 512 – Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools

Although many lawyers have been using artificial intelligence in their practices for years, e.g., doc review and contract analysis, generative artificial intelligence (GAI) is…
News

TLI wins Texas Lawyer “Best of” Poll 2024

For the fourteenth straight year, TLI has won the Texas Lawyer Best of readers’ poll!  TLI won in the following categories: Professional Liability Insurance provider (Houston),…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Next Steps in the Rules Referendum

In our March 2024 article, we discussed the 2024 Rules Referendum regarding 12 proposals for changes to the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.  As…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Should I Stay, or Should I Go, Part II

Previously, in Part I of our TLI Top Tip: Should I Stay or Should I Go, we discussed the requirement that clients who follow…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Should I Stay, or Should I Go, Part I

When a lawyer changes firms, clients face a dilemma–do they stay with the current firm or follow the lawyer to the new firm? The…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Prompt Response, Part II

In Part I of our TLI Top Tip: Prompt Response, we advised that lawyers communicate with their clients regularly, and determine how their clients define…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Timely Information

At any given time, lawyers may have multiple matters for different clients on their desk. That creates a tendency to forget that each client’s…
Article

To Disclose, or to Not Disclose: Cautionary Tales from Recent Cases

A lawyer’s duty to disclose potential conflicts was tested in a couple recent cases. These cases involved lawyer-judge relationships that could impact the lawyer’s…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Candid Advice

Lawyers must “render candid advice” to clients. Lawyers often guide clients through facts or alternatives that feel to the client like a basket of…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Independent Judgment

Lawyers must “exercise independent professional judgment” when representing clients. The comments to TDRPC 2.01 do not specifically address “independent professional judgment,” but a review…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Sufficient Explanation

Lawyers must “explain a matter to the extent reasonably necessary” for clients to make informed decisions. The duty to explain a matter using laymens’…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Promptly Respond to Clients

Lawyers must “promptly comply with reasonable requests for information” from our clients. When is a response “prompt?” It depends on the circumstances and the…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Keep Clients “Reasonably Informed”

Lawyers must keep clients “reasonably informed about the status of a matter,” but what does it mean to keep a client “reasonably informed?” It…
TLI Top Tip

TLI Top Tip: Be Nice When Collecting Fees

Lawyers are not immune from having clients or customers who refuse to pay their bills. The consequences to the lawyer can be great, particularly…

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