Exam 2: Ethics

A sole practitioner has a sign on her door stating that she practices general business law, personal injury, and family law. The attorney employs two paralegals and a secretary. The attorney personally handles all general business law cases, but assigns all of the personal injury cases and family law cases to one of the paralegals. The attorney fully and appropriately supervises all work performed by the paralegals and pays them a salary, plus fifty percent of all fees received from the cases assigned to them. Is this arrangement permissible?

Under the Model Rules, a lawyer may advertise through which of the following media?

Generally, a paralegal may perform any function delegated by an attorney except which of the following functions?

May a lawyer make a public statement while a trial is ongoing if the judge discharged a juror who made a public statement on Facebook® that was unfavorable to the lawyer's client, and the press and public responded with opinions that threatened the fairness of the proceeding?

Pete Plaintiff hired Alice Attorney to represent him in a personal injury suit. Early in the case, Pete tells Alice that he will not settle for less than $100,000. One year later, as the parties are about to complete discovery, Alice confers with Olive Olafsen, who represents the Darlene Defendant. Olive offers to settle the case for $25,000. Alice then tries calling Pete, but is unable to reach him after five hours of trying. Alice returns Olive's call and rejects the offer. The case proceeds to trial, and the jury awards Pete $150,000. If Pete sues Alice for malpractice, will Pete be successful?

Which of the following is NOT included as a prohibited professional misconduct under the Model Rules?

If a lawyer reasonably believes that evidence is false, the lawyer may refuse to offer the evidence, except __________________________________________________.

An attorney was preparing for a hearing on an important motion and asked his paralegal to call the judge's chambers and confirm that the hearing was still set for 9:00 a.m. The paralegal, who had never spoken with the judge's assistant before, called the assistant and said "I'm calling from Johnson & Wax more. I'd like to confirm that the hearing in the Gustafson case is still set for 9:00 a.m." Which of the following rules from the NALA Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility did the paralegal not follow?

An attorney at one law firm served a subpoena on another law firm. The subpoena requested all documents prepared by non-attorney staff in connection with a particular case. A paralegal at the firm had prepared a spreadsheet as part of an effort to calculate the client's damages. The attorney's subpoena will not succeed because the paralegal's spreadsheet is protected by _________________________.

A paralegal works for an attorney who practices civil litigation. Another member of the office staff delivers a fax to the paralegal that was sent by opposing counsel in a case being handled by the paralegal's employer. The fax is addressed to opposing counsel's expert witness, but the cover sheet lists the fax number for the law firm of the paralegal's employer. Does the paralegal's employer have any obligations?

Which of the following is NOT specifically prohibited conduct under the Model Rule on the duty of candor owed to the court?

For many years, Luke had been a patent agent before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Tired of competing with so many lawyers in the field, Luke attended the evening division of a law school for several years and passed his state's bar exam after graduation. Luke has now started his own law firm and wants to promote his new law practice focusing on patent law. Under the Model Rules, may Luke advertise a specialty in patent law?

Which of the following situations is NOT specifically prohibited by the conflict of interest rules under the Model Rules?

A paralegal is employed by an attorney who represents injured workers in workers' compensation cases. The attorney is fond of one of his clients. Because of her injury, the client has not been able to work and is running short of money. The attorney instructs the paralegal to have the firm's bookkeeper prepare a $500 check from the firm's business account to the client as a loan. Can the attorney and/or law firm loan the money to the client?

Under the Model Standards and Guidelines for Utilization of Paralegals, which of the following is NOT an area that consideration should be given to by a paralegal's supervisor?

Carla is a paralegal who has worked for the Costanza Law Firm for four months. Previously, Carla had worked at the Kramer Law Firm for seven years. While working for the Kramer Law Firm, Carla was heavily involved in many aspects of a case captioned Seinfeld v. Newman, in which the Kramer Law Firm represented Mr. Seinfeld. Yesterday, Mr. Newman met with George Costanza about hiring the Costanza Law Firm to replace his current attorneys. Jill is working in the transactional department at Costanza Law Firm and has no connection with the litigation department. If Jill is screened from and does not work on Mr. Newman's case, can the Costanza Law Firm accept the representation of Mr. Newman?

Judith and Alan are attorneys and partners in a two-attorney law firm. The law firm has been successful in establishing a family law practice. Although both Judith and Alan are involved in management of the firm, Judith is responsible for most personnel and operational matters, and Alan is responsible for most bookkeeping and computer system matters. Judith is aware that Alan has been gambling on regular basis at a casino on a nearby Indian reservation. Nonetheless, Judith has not made any effort to monitor the business and trust accounts or remind Alan of the ethical rules governing trust accounts. One day, Alan takes $5,000 from the firm's trust account so he can use it for gambling at the casino, but he loses the entire amount and cannot repay the trust account. Is Judith subject to disciplinary action for Alan's use of the client funds in the trust account?

A lawyer represented a corporation that owned and managed many apartment and rental properties. After the lawyer represented the corporation in a hotly contested case, and the corporation lost, the president of the corporation refused to pay the remaining amount due in attorneys' fees because he believed the attorney had been negligent in his handling of the case. After discussing the dispute with the president, the lawyer agreed to settle the matter for one-half of the amount due in attorneys' fees and the transfer of all of the corporation's legal affairs to a different attorney. Is the lawyer subject to any discipline?

A mid-size law firm was devoted almost entirely to personal injury cases. Many of the law firm's clients, however, were low- and middle-income citizens and in difficult financial situations because of their physical injuries and inability to work. The law firm regularly referred these clients to a finance company located in the same building. The finance company offered loans to personal injury plaintiffs under an arrangement that would repay the loan through a settlement or judgment based on the personal injury claim. Nonetheless, the plaintiffs would still be liable for the loan if the claim was not settled or resolved by a judgment in the client's favor. At no time did the law firm or the finance company disclose that the law firm owned the finance company. Is the law firm subject to discipline for its interest in the finance company?

Alex is a transactional attorney and does not do litigation. Bill is a litigator, but knows Alex. Alex has a client who wants to sue Debtor to recover money and principal owed under a loan to Debtor. Alex refers the client to Bill, and Bill files suit against Debtor on behalf of the client. Other creditors then begin suing Debtor for other outstanding loans. One of the other creditors is another client of Alex, and this second client sues Alex, claiming that Alex negligently encouraged the second client to make the loan to Debtor. During the second creditor's suit, a subpoena is served on Bill's law firm seeking any non-privileged records (including billing statements) related to the first creditor's lawsuit (filed by Bill) against Debtor. Bill instructs his paralegal to obtain copies of all billing statements up to and including the month in which the suit was filed and to redact all entries on and after the date the first creditor's lawsuit was filed. The redacted versions are then produced in response to the subpoena. Why were the billing statements produced with some information redacted?