A brief note about Rule 1.4 before we swing into the much-more-substantively-amended Rule 1.6: Comment 4 to Rule 1.4 has been amended to state not that “[c]lient telephone calls should be promptly returned or acknowledged,” but that “a lawyer should promptly respond to or acknowledge client communications.” So, yes, you have to answer emails and […]
New Rule 1.2(d): Spelling Things Out
< As new Comment 10 to Rule 1.2(d) explains, new Rule 1.2(d)(3) was adopted “to address the dilemma facing a lawyer in Illinois after the passage of the Illinois Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act.” The new rule provides that a lawyer may “counsel or assist a client in conduct expressly permitted by […]
New Year, New Rules: 1.1
In October of last year, the Illinois Supreme Court entered an order amending several of the Rules of Professional Conduct, effective as of January 1, 2016. This post and several following posts will examine the changes to the Rules, and will offer thoughts about how lawyers can best understand the changes and incorporate them into […]
Brass Tacks Post: We Made Up. Now What?
One scenario that’s come up many times on both the prosecution and the defense sides of the ethics fence is the attorney-client make-up. The lawyer and client don’t communicate at all, or effectively, for a while; the client has a misimpression of the status of a matter; there is a noticeable, but harmless, period of […]
Lienholders, Trust Accounts, and You
5.27.15 The Supreme Court’s recent decision in McVey v. M.L.K. Enterprises (2015 IL 118143) lets Illinois lawyers know the order of things when it comes to disbursing settlement funds in injury cases, and the lesson is: we may call medical lienholders “third parties,” but they’re not third in line. In McVey, the plaintiff settled her […]
Brass Tacks Post: Known Unknowns
Illinois lawyers should be aware that the Supreme Court recently amended Rule 1.15 to address the problem of what to do with unidentifiable funds residing in an IOLTA. There has long been an answer to the question of what to do with unclaimed funds: follow the procedures outlined in the Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property […]
Lying in State
Prof. Ronald D. Rotunda recently wrote concerning lawyers’ duty to be truthful in negotiations: its essence and its limits. As Prof. Rotunda wrote, Rule 4.1 of the Model Rules imposes a duty on lawyers to make no false statements of material fact or law, and Illinois Rule 4.1 tracks the Model Rule. Prof. Rotunda cites […]
Client Protection, Lawyer Risk
The Illinois Supreme Court recently amended several Supreme Court Rules relating to the disciplinary system. One such change was to Rules 780 and 759, relating to the administration of the ARDC’s Client Protection Program. Most Illinois lawyers have not encountered these rules in their careers; the Client Protection Program (established under Rule 780) had previously […]
Hypothetically, I Got This Client Candor Problem
When I was at the ARDC, I used to answer phone calls to the Ethics Inquiry hotline. All attorneys there did so for one day a week. One never knew what one was going to get – the calls came in randomly, and they were supposed to be a) anonymous and b) posed as hypotheticals. […]
The Business of Business
As the ABA Journal recently reported, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently promulgated new rules (effective March 1) that are aimed at lawyers’ provision of investment advice to clients. I’ve been concerned about lawyers’ conduct in this arena since my involvement, early in my ARDC career, in a case involving a lawyer selling unregistered securities to […]
ethics forward. 