DESCRIPTION
Every lawyer wrestles with how to handle facts or law that is unfavorable to a client. There is a natural tension between a lawyer’s duty to be honest, on the one hand, and the lawyer’s duty to provide zealous representation of a client. In some instances, bad facts or bad law must be disclosed. In other instances, disclosure is not required. How this tension is resolved involves substantial ethical issues. This program will discuss the ethics issues involved and how they may be resolved in a practical setting. Ethical issues surrounding the representation of adverse facts to tribunals and adversaries
- Disclosure of adverse legal precedents
- Required discloses of bad facts or law
- Timing issues – when must the disclosure occur?
- Related issues of confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege
- Ex parte communications with the courts – what’s ethically permissible, what’s not?
Speakers:
Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections. For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation. Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee. He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Disclaimer: All views or opinions expressed by any presenter during the course of this CLE is that of the presenter alone and not an opinion of the Oklahoma Bar Association, the employers, or affiliates of the presenters unless specifically stated. Additionally, any materials, including the legal research, are the product of the individual contributor, not the Oklahoma Bar Association. The Oklahoma Bar Association makes no warranty, express or implied, relating to the accuracy or content of these materials.