Full Description
Written by one of the most experienced law firm general counsel in the United States, Professional Responsibility for Lawyers is a rigorous and accessible treatment of the law and ethics of legal practice, weaving together statutes, rules, case law, ethics opinions, and secondary authorities to illuminate the standards that define a lawyer's professional obligations.
Organized into fourteen clear and practical chapters, the book guides readers through the core duties of communication, competence, loyalty, confidentiality, and financial integrity, while also engaging with contemporary challenges such as legal technology and the growing role of private capital in the profession. Each chapter combines careful doctrinal analysis with practical insights drawn from real-world lawyering, making complex rules intelligible without sacrificing depth.
Key Features:
A systematic exploration of the regulatory architecture governing lawyers across jurisdictions
A synthesis of disciplinary rules and fiduciary obligations as they converge in practice
Detailed treatment of attorney-client relationships, conflicts of interest, and duties to courts, clients, and third parties
Consideration of emerging issues in artificial intelligence, legal innovation, and the future of professional regulation
Written with clarity and authority, this book provides both a practical reference for lawyers, in-house counsel, and judges and a foundational text for law students. It equips readers not only to understand the governing standards of professional responsibility, but also to navigate the risks and realities of modern legal practice.
Contents
Contents
1 Regulation of lawyers
2 The attorney-client relationship
3 The duty to communicate
4 The duties of diligence and competence
5 The duty of confidentiality: confidences and secrets
6 The duty of confidentiality: attorney client privilege
7 The duty of loyalty: current client conflicts
8 The duty of loyalty: former client conflicts
9 The duty of loyalty: lawyer-client conflicts
10 Lawyers and money
11 Attorney advertising
12 Duties to third parties
13 The business and economics of practicing law
14 Legal technology, disruption by private capital and the
future of the profession
