YourABA December 2018

Ethics

Meditation on Model Rule 5.4

by Dennis A. Rendleman, ABA Ethics Counsel

In 2013, the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility issued Formal Opinion 464 interpreting Model Rules 1.5 and 5.4. Much like an ember from a blaze, this opinion set off certain members of the bar who were outraged with the opinion as an assault on the core principles of lawyering, specifically the professional independence of lawyers.

Transportation & Energy Issues

Legal implications of driverless cars

by Kayla Matthews

Almost no one questions the idea that driverless and autonomous vehicles are the future. Just about every auto manufacturer in existence is working on their version of the driverless auto, from Tesla and Lexus to Ford and Toyota.

Ethics

When is it okay for a lawyer to lie?

Everyone knows that lawyers are not allowed to lie — to clients, courts or third parties. But once you get beyond deliberate false statements, the scope of the obligations to truth and integrity become less clear. What about reckless and negligent statements that are false? What about misleading statements and implications about the extent of your knowledge? What about omissions? When is it okay to exploit someone else’s misapprehension and when do you have to correct it?

Professional Development

Judge: 10 musts for your briefs and motions

Maybe you’ve investigated whether or not the judge in your case prefers the Oxford comma. That’s fine, but Ross Guberman, president of Legal Writing Pro and the author of “Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation’s Top Advocates,” thinks your time would be better spent “developing the core persuasive writing skills that would make almost all judges much happier.”

Lawyer Wellness

Stress, anxiety, substance abuse? Self-help tips to adopt now

A 2017 research study from the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being says that “the current state of lawyers’ health cannot support a profession dedicated to client service and dependent on the public trust.”

New Attorneys

4 ways to better associate training

Firms have revamped their associate training. Gone are the traditional hours-long, lecture-based sessions of yore, which have given way to more engaging, interactive methods that better meet the expectations of today’s young attorneys.

Cybersecurity

First steps for your firm’s cybersecurity plan

We all see the headlines about law firm data breaches, which can inflict far-reaching damage. Companies are making cybersecurity demands on their business partners – law firms, vendors and so on – and frequently these demands take people by surprise.

Professional Development

New managing principal on leveraging his transition

After 20 years as a litigator, Vito A. Gagliardi Jr. was elected managing principal of Porzio, Bromberg & Newman in Morristown, N.J. In a recent issue of Law Practice Magazine, he wrote about the move into his new role in “Managing to Succeed: Leveraging a Leadership Transition.”

First Amendment

Legal Fact Check: Can the White House pull a reporter’s credentials?

On Nov. 7, the U.S. Secret Service stopped CNN reporter Jim Acosta from entering White House grounds and took his media credentials after an incident earlier that day during President Donald Trump’s news conference. A video of the encounter appeared to show that Acosta brushed up against a White House intern who was dispatched to take away his microphone to keep him from asking further questions. “We will not tolerate the inappropriate behavior clearly documented in this video,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted later that night.