Some Recent (and Ongoing) Developments in Legal Ethics

Judge Jennifer M. Perkins of the Arizona Court of Appeals and Professor Emeritus of Law William Hodes will discuss the following three areas of lawyer professional responsibility.

* The American Bar Association adopted Model Rule 8.4(g) in August 2016 to provide enforceable regulations against discrimination and harassment by lawyers on the basis of sex, race, and several other characteristics. But the Rule has proven to be controversial, and even five years later the controversy seems to be increasing rather than fading from view.

* Wide adoption of computer-based and online technology has dramatically affected the practice of law, beginning well before the dawn of this century. Ramifications for legal ethics include responding to online criticism by clients or opposing parties, working remotely outside the state of licensure, preventing and dealing with data breaches involving confidential client information, maintaining competency to practice law beyond knowledge of legal doctrine and familiarity with procedural requirements, using artificial intelligence to conduct judge-specific legal research, and avoiding ex parte or other improper communications through interactions on social media.

* Model Rule 1.2(d) and its predecessors have always prohibited lawyers from knowingly assisting clients in carrying out fraudulent or criminal schemes. But how does a lawyer know when a client is up to no good? In suspicious circumstances, is there an unavoidable tension among client loyalty, client service, self-protection., and good citizenship? An uncomfortable "client audit" can become necessary, in litigation and non-litigation matters.

Featuring:

• William Hodes, Owner and President, The William Hodes Law Firm
• Judge Jennifer M. Perkins, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One

CLE is being offered for this webinar. Please follow the instructions below to ensure that you receive credit.

Step 1: Register for CLE by clicking the register button above and then choosing the CLE option.

Step 2: Sign-in to the electronic sign-in form for CLE credit. The sign-in button will go live 30 minutes prior to the event.

Step 3: LISTEN FOR AND WRITE DOWN THE UNIQUE WEBINAR CODE DURING EACH PANEL. This code must be entered into the electronic certificate of attendance form for each panel you wish to receive credit for.

Note: This webinar is not being live streamed, so you must register and attend the panel on Zoom.

Step 4: Access the CLE materials by clicking the button below.

Step 7: Complete the Evaluation Form.

Button will go live 30 minutes before the webinar begins.

Step 8: If you would like to check on your State's approval numbers, we will be updating this document with new hours from each approving state, as we receive them.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many hours of CLE are available?

Each state will have some variance as to what they approve, but we are applying for 1 hour of CLE for this event.

Is there an Ethics panel, if so, when?

This event will qualify for Ethics CLE.

I forgot to Register beforehand and the panel is coming up in 5 minutes! What can I do?

First, locate the sign-in button for the day above, and sign in for the panel.
Second, register for the panel and attend the webinar on Zoom. Write down the unique code given out live. (If you do NOT write this code down, we cannot guarantee CLE credit.)

Where are the CLE Materials?

CLE materials will be made available on this page through a link.