COURSE DESCRIPTION
Substantial ethics issues flow from the moment an attorney-client relationship is formed, whether it is formed intentionally or through inadvertence. Determining when a relationship commences and the scope of the representation has dramatic implications for issues related to confidentiality, conflicts of interest, the attorney-client privilege and more. Ending an engagement is nearly as complicated. When are you allowed to end an engagement? And how must you go about it without prejudicing a client’s interest in a transaction or in litigation? This program will you provide a real-world guide the ethical issues of beginning and ending an attorney client relationship.
- Determining when and how a relationship starts – including through inadvertence
- Email and technology issues – how unsolicited communications may trigger ethical obligations
- Joint representation issues – unsorting the confidentiality and privilege issues
- End a relationship – when are you allowed to end an engagement? How do you do it ethically?
- Circumstances when you might be required to end a relationship
Speaker:
Elizabeth Treubert Simon is an ethics attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, where she advises on a wide range of ethics and compliance-related matters to support Akin Gump’s offices worldwide. Previously, her practice focused on business and commercial litigation and providing counsel to clients regarding professional ethics and attorney disciplinary procedures. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Discipline and the District of Columbia Rules of Professional Conduct Rules Review Committee. She is the immediate past chair of the District of Columbia Legal Ethics Committee. She writes and speaks extensively on attorney ethics issues.