About the Committee

Mission

The Ethics & Professionalism Committee examines legal ethics and professionalism through a combination of programming and publications, with a focus on the modern litigation practice. Our mission is to be:

1. Informative—providing practical advice and recommendations about the ethics rules and their application and relevance to all aspects of a litigation practice;
2. Instructive—educating about “best practices” from an ethics and professionalism standpoint to help litigators navigate the boundaries within which they are required to practice; and
3. Insightful—producing publications and programming about legal ethics for litigators that analyze current events and anticipate trends and changes to the ethics rules.

Message from the Chairs

Ethics and professionalism are central to the practice of every lawyer and is a constantly evolving field. The Ethics & Professionalism Committee focuses on the substantive body of ethical rules governing lawyers’ conduct, as well as broader issues of professionalism, all with a focus on the modern litigation practice. On our committee website, you can find newsletters, Practice Points, articles, Sound Advice podcasts, and other content discussing the latest developments in ethics and professionalism. We also sponsor CLE programs through online webinars and at ABA conferences and meetings. Additionally, we sponsor Roundtables for lively discussion of current ethics issues.  

We are actively searching for members to serve on our subcommittees. Participation in a subcommittee is an excellent way to network with fellow attorneys from all over the country, to support your personal business development efforts, and to play an important role in educating lawyers. Becoming a member or leader of a subcommittee is also a great way to get published and become involved in program presentations, whether remotely or in-person. If you are interested in serving on one of our subcommittees, or are simply interested in contributing an article or podcast for publication on our website, please let us know and we will be happy to visit with you.

We welcome any and all involvement from our committee membership.

Please make sure to join our committee. You can do so on the ABA website.

If you would like a chance to interact with other committee’s members before deciding which subcommittee you would like to join, we invite you to participate in one of our monthly committee teleconferences (the first Tuesday of each month at 12:30 p.m. ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT and 9:30 am PT). Please contact one of us for call-in information.

If you would like to be actively involved with the Ethics & Professionalism Committee, or if you want additional information about the committee, please feel free to call or email us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Jeanne Huey at (214) 336-7364 or email

John Austin at (919) 278-7634 or email

Cochairs, ABA Litigation Section Ethics & Professionalism Committee

Subcommittees

Our active subcommittees include:

• Membership and Diversity (Pamela Menaker, Subcommittee Chair)
• Website and Written Content (Lucy Inman, Julie Hill (Paralegal Member), Subcommittee Chairs)
• Programming (Deborah Winokur, Committee Vice Chair)
• Communications and Social Media