Mark Hinderks

November 28, 2023 | The Legal Intelligencer

While you have not violated the letter of Rule 1.8(j), however, you should examine whether the relationship you now have with your client violates or could violate the rules in other ways.

By Mark Hinderks

5 minute read

October 19, 2023 | The Legal Intelligencer

Check the current status of Rule 1.16(a) in your applicable jurisdiction. It would also be advisable to educate your firm's lawyers on both red flag indicators of problematic clients, as well as some simple points of inquiry about the client's goals and purposes in the representation.

By Mark Hinderks

5 minute read

September 20, 2023 | The Legal Intelligencer

Rule 4.4(b) provides that upon receipt of a document or electronically stored information (ESI) relating to the representation of the lawyer's client that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know was inadvertently sent, the lawyer must promptly notify the sender, leaving what happens next to law outside the Model Rules. i.e., there is no requirement in the rule that the receiving lawyer cease reading the document or abide by any instructions of the sender.

By Mark Hinderks

5 minute read

August 24, 2023 | The Legal Intelligencer

Model Rule 3.3 protects the integrity of matters before a "tribunal," barring a lawyer from offering evidence the lawyer knows to be false and requiring the lawyer to take "reasonable remedial measures" if the lawyer, the lawyer's client or a witness offered by the lawyer has offered "material" evidence the lawyer has come to know is false.

By Mark Hinderks

5 minute read

July 27, 2023 | The Legal Intelligencer

Rule 1.8(j) unequivocally prohibits a lawyer from having sexual relations with a client unless a consensual sexual relationship between them existed prior to the attorney-client relationship. Comment 17 to the rule explains that the lawyer-client relationship is a fiduciary one, involving the need for the highest trust and confidence of the client.

By Mark Hinderks

4 minute read

June 13, 2023 | The Legal Intelligencer

Arguably, the concealment of relevant information in order to induce a settlement is a fraud and, in some circumstances, also a crime.

By Mark Hinderks

4 minute read

May 18, 2023 | The Legal Intelligencer

From a lawyer's perspective, they are covered by ABA Model Rule 3.5(a), the current version of which prohibits a lawyer from seeking to "influence" a judge by means "prohibited by law." In addition, some authorities read Rule 3.5 in conjunction with ABA Model Judicial Code Rule 3.13(B), permitting judges only to accept "ordinary social hospitality" and "items with little intrinsic value."

By Mark Hinderks

5 minute read

April 19, 2023 | The Legal Intelligencer

Although the ABA has attempted to bring some uniformity with its promulgation of Model Rules, most of them have not been adopted by all states in the same form, leading to some dramatic differences.

By Mark Hinderks

5 minute read

March 10, 2023 | The Legal Intelligencer

Rule 3.4 (Fairness to Opposing Party and Counsel) looks at the issues from the viewpoint of what is acceptable conduct by you in limiting access of an opposing party and their counsel to otherwise relevant information. Rule 4.2 flips the perspective to address how far a lawyer may go in communicating with a represented party. Let's walk through the various possibilities.

By Mark Hinderks

8 minute read

February 09, 2023 | The Legal Intelligencer

The apparent tension between truthfulness in dealing with others and the back-and-forth way that negotiations between humans have occurred across time and cultures is not directly addressed by the letter of any of the Model Rules, but is dealt with in a comment to Rule 4.1 Truthfulness in Statements to Others.

By Mark Hinderks

6 minute read