Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal最新文献_第3页

Defining Fiduciary Duties in a Majority Nonlawyer-Owned Law Firm: How Allowing Nonlawyer Owners Could Impact State Requirements of Director Fiduciary Duties 在非律师拥有多数股权的律师事务所中定义信托责任:允许非律师所有人如何影响国家对董事信托责任的要求

Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal Pub Date : 2012-05-01 DOI: 10.2139/SSRN.2047733

J. Gottschalk

引用次数: 0

Deception in Undercover Investigations: Status Based vs. Conduct Based Ethical Analysis 卧底调查中的欺骗:基于身份与基于行为的伦理分析

Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal Pub Date : 2011-11-25 DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2875910

Barry R. Temkin

引用次数: 0

The Pressures of Billable Hours: Lessons from a Survey of Billing Practices Inside Law Firms 计费时间的压力:来自律师事务所内部计费实践调查的教训

Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal Pub Date : 2011-03-18 DOI: 10.2139/SSRN.1790082

C. Parker, David Ruschena

{"title":"The Pressures of Billable Hours: Lessons from a Survey of Billing Practices Inside Law Firms","authors":"C. Parker, David Ruschena","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.1790082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.1790082","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines whether lawyers’ experience of time-based billing and billable hour budgets subjects them to pressures that encourage unethical practices. We argue that billable hour pressure is merely the ‘face’ of more fundamental pressures stemming from the way that lawyers in private practice perceive their work environments. Even without excessive billable hour targets, lawyers may be more likely to engage in unethical behaviour where they believe that unethical behaviour is necessary in order to meet performance indicators; that ‘everyone’ within the firm in which they work is engaging in such behaviour; and that there are no other ways to succeed at the firm – whether or not their beliefs are correct. If this is the case, the interventions necessary to prevent billing fraud must deal with lawyers’ perceptions and not merely the billable hours regimes in which lawyers work. Indeed quite fundamental reform of the way in which firms manage their lawyers and communicate expectations about billing and ethics might be necessary to achieve a healthier environment for lawyers and a less exploitative environment for clients. This paper examines these issues through data from the Queensland Billing Practices Survey (“the Survey”), run by the Legal Services Commission in Queensland, Australia. Solicitors from 25 private law firms answered questions about the billing systems, office culture and ethics policies of the firms in which they worked. From their responses, it is possible to gain a greater understanding of lawyers’ perceptions about their firm, how those perceptions influence their views about acceptable practice within the firm, and what can be done to change those perceptions.","PeriodicalId":318823,"journal":{"name":"Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129794479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 10

The Ethics of Legal Process Outsourcing 法律流程外包的伦理问题

Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal Pub Date : 2010-10-08 DOI: 10.2139/SSRN.1689308

M. Aijaz

引用次数: 3

Supplemental Examinations to Consider, Reconsider, or Correct Patent-Related Information: A Tangled Web Indeed 补充审查考虑，重新考虑，或正确的专利相关信息:一个复杂的网络

Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal Pub Date : 2010-07-29 DOI: 10.2139/SSRN.1650648

Lisa A. Dolak

{"title":"Supplemental Examinations to Consider, Reconsider, or Correct Patent-Related Information: A Tangled Web Indeed","authors":"Lisa A. Dolak","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.1650648","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.1650648","url":null,"abstract":"A pending legislative proposal would authorize the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to undertake a “supplemental examination” of an issued patent to “consider, reconsider, or correct information believed to be relevant to the patent.” It would further bar the federal courts from holding a patent unenforceable “on the basis of conduct relating to information” considered during supplemental examination. The obvious intent of the proposal is to constrain the federal courts’ power to entertain inequitable conduct-based challenges. Its emergence is unsurprising, given the mounting dissatisfaction with the courts’ application of the inequitable conduct doctrine. However, because the bill proposes to provide patent owners a forum for effectively purging the taint associated with intentionally undermining the integrity of the patent procurement process, it raises a number of interesting questions. This essay examines ethics-related implications of the supplemental examinations proposal. “Ethics” is broadly defined here to extend beyond potential ethics and discipline-related considerations for practitioners to related implications for the USPTO, the courts, and the patent system generally.","PeriodicalId":318823,"journal":{"name":"Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132456739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Flat Fee Fundamentals: An Introduction to the Ethical Issues Surrounding the Flat Fee After In re Mance 统一收费的基本原理:介绍有关婚后统一收费的伦理问题

Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal Pub Date : 2010-06-01 DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3680036

T. Moore

{"title":"Flat Fee Fundamentals: An Introduction to the Ethical Issues Surrounding the Flat Fee After In re Mance","authors":"T. Moore","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3680036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3680036","url":null,"abstract":"Current economic trends are motivating law firms and clients to reassess billing practices. The once invincible billable hour is increasingly criticized, and a growing number of attorneys are abandoning it in favor of \"flat fee\" or \"fixed fee\" arrangements. But flat fees can raise some prickly ethical issues, such as whether attorneys can charge non-refundable fees, whether legal fees are ever earned upon receipt, and whether advances of unearned fees must be treated as client property. Moreover, this past September, the D.C. Court of Appeals rekindled the debate surrounding these issues when it held, in In re Mance, that a flat fee remains the property of the client until his or her attorney performs the legal service envisioned by the fee.<br><br>This note hopes to serve as an introduction to flat fee ethics and examines the questions raised above in the context of In re Mance. Part I sets the framework for a discussion about flat fees by explaining common terminology that judges and lawyers use to describe various fee arrangements. Part II summarizes scholarship and judicial precedent surrounding the nonrefundable retainer and ownership of fees upon receipt. Part III examines the reasoning of In re Mance. And Part IV suggests steps attorneys should take in light of In re Mance to ethically accelerate access to flat fee funds.","PeriodicalId":318823,"journal":{"name":"Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131726597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Protecting a Client’s Confidences: Recent Developments in Privileged Communication Between Attorneys and Accountants 保护客户的机密:律师和会计师之间保密沟通的最新进展

Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal Pub Date : 2010-05-01 DOI: 10.5195/JLC.2010.1

Noah P. Barsky, A. H. Catanach, Ilya A. Lipin, Shelley Rhoades-Catanach

{"title":"Protecting a Client’s Confidences: Recent Developments in Privileged Communication Between Attorneys and Accountants","authors":"Noah P. Barsky, A. H. Catanach, Ilya A. Lipin, Shelley Rhoades-Catanach","doi":"10.5195/JLC.2010.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5195/JLC.2010.1","url":null,"abstract":"The attorney-client privilege is one of the foundations of our jurisprudence. Originally, designed to prevent attorneys from testifying against their clients, the privilege eventually evolved to reflect legal, societal, and financial complexities. This privilege depends on full disclosure and open communication between attorney and the client in order to provide competent and adequate representation. Today, attorneys often require and rely on expert guidance of accountants for various issues pertaining to litigation and transactional work. This article illustrates how the recent cases of Commissioner v. Comcast Corp. and United States v. Textron affect privileged communications in complex tax and transactional matters between attorneys and accountants retained for the purposes of client representation. The article also offers guidance on how to preserve privilege in communication between attorneys and accountants as waiver of such privilege may have significant and costly implications. At conclusion, unresolved issues pertaining to privileged communication are discussed and solutions are offered.","PeriodicalId":318823,"journal":{"name":"Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129668372","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 1

Ethics in Organizational Change: Some Legal Perspectives 组织变革中的伦理:一些法律视角

Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal Pub Date : 2009-10-09 DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1771625

A. Verbeke

引用次数: 0

Children of a Lesser God: Lawyers, Economics, and the Systemic Corruption of the Legal Profession 《次等上帝之子:律师、经济学和法律界的系统性腐败》

Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal Pub Date : 2009-06-02 DOI: 10.2139/SSRN.1375028

David R. Barnhizer

{"title":"Children of a Lesser God: Lawyers, Economics, and the Systemic Corruption of the Legal Profession","authors":"David R. Barnhizer","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.1375028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.1375028","url":null,"abstract":"This essay focuses on the economics of law practice, the oversupply of lawyers, and the effects on the profession's ethical behaviour as a consequence of the saturation of the competitive fields of private law practice. The claim to principled self-regulation was always questionable but now is absurd. We should abandon the existing regulatory schemes - particularly removing control from lawyers and judges - if effective regulation is to have any chance in the competitive niches of the business of private law practice. The premise underlying this analysis is that the practice of law is a business and nothing but a business. Effective regulation of the business of law practice must take into account the diversity and dynamics of the distinct forms or dominant business models of the industry of law. As part of this analysis it is assumed that the aim of the private law business is to extract the maximum economic benefit from the available assets (clients) with the greatest efficiency and at the least cost to the business in terms of financial expenditure by the lawyer and efficient use of time to maximize earnings. The result is an irresolvable conflict between an \"ethical\" model of law practice that places the client at the center of the entire process and requires diligence, loyalty, communication, outcome evaluation, thorough preparation and effective advocacy, and a \"business\" model that focuses on the best economic outcomes for the lawyer and firm. Even though the business model clearly dominates we continue to pretend that the ethical model controls the interaction between lawyer and client. The result is that the entire regulatory system by which we purport to govern lawyers in order to protect the interests of clients is one that is poorly adapted to the real operating conditions of the practice of law as a business.","PeriodicalId":318823,"journal":{"name":"Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal","volume":"83 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126173188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The Psychology of Conflicts of Interest in Criminal Cases 刑事案件中的利益冲突心理

Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal Pub Date : 2009-04-01 DOI: 10.17161/1808.20128

Tigran W. Eldred

{"title":"The Psychology of Conflicts of Interest in Criminal Cases","authors":"Tigran W. Eldred","doi":"10.17161/1808.20128","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17161/1808.20128","url":null,"abstract":"This article demonstrates that current Sixth Amendment jurisprudence fails to account for how defense lawyers respond to conflicts of interest in criminal cases. Too often, the Supreme Court has made assumptions about the behavior of defense lawyers without empirical support. The result has been a confusing doctrinal landscape, which both relies upon and questions the ability of defense lawyers to address and resolve conflicts of interest. This article fills the gap in existing literature by viewing conflicts of interest in criminal cases through the prism of behavioral economics. The research reveals that defense lawyers are subject to psychological biases that undermine their ability to be objective when balancing self-interest with duties to others. The result is a systematic error of judgment that favors self-interest when conflicts are present. This article proposes a new approach to the Sixth Amendment that better aligns legal rules with how lawyers actually respond to conflicts of interest. Instead of the current test for ineffective assistance of counsel -- which requires proof that a conflict of interest adversely affected the representation provided -- the proposed test focuses on the degree of risk that a conflict existed before conviction. This test will reduce the importance of the testimony of the lawyer whose conduct is under scrutiny when a conflict is alleged.","PeriodicalId":318823,"journal":{"name":"Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility eJournal","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134212220","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 3