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(Download PDF) Ethics For The Legal Professional 8Th Edition 8Th Edition Full Chapter PDF
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Contents
Video Case Index xv
Preface xvi
New in This Edition xviii
Resources for Teaching xx
Student Resources Online xx
Acknowledgments xxii
vii
viii Contents
Chapter 3 Confidentiality 73
What’s the Big Deal about Confidentiality? 74
What Is “Confidential”? 74
How Long Does the Duty of Confidentiality Last? 75
How Can I Make Sure I Do My Duty? 76
What Confidential Information Can Be Divulged? 77
Exception 1: Doing Your Job 77
Exception 2: Need to Know 77
Exception 3: Express Waiver 77
Exception 4: Defending against Client Actions 77
Exception 5: Commission of a Crime 78
Exception 6: Preventing a Crime 78
Exception 7: Not “Client Information” 78
Exception 8 (May be): Seeking Help from Other
Professionals Who Have a Duty of Confidentiality 79
What Are Some “Not Exceptions”? 79
How Has Technology Changed Confidentiality? 80
E-Mail 81
Cell Phones/Text Messages 81
Computers 83
Outsourcing and Offshoring 83
Computer Backup Systems 84
Documents 85
Client File Retention and Confidentiality? 85
What Is the Attorney/Client Privilege? 87
Attorney/Client Privilege Contrasted 88
Where Do the Two Concepts Overlap? 91
So, Then, What’s the Work Product Privilege? 92
Are There Any Exceptions to the Work Product Privilege? 93
x Contents
Summary 93
Chapter Review and Assignments 94
Key Terms 94 • Critical Thinking 94 • Assignments 95
Collaborative Assignments 95 • Review Questions 95
In re Landry 276
In the News 279
Video Case Study 280
xv
Preface
Ethics for the Legal Professional has set the standard for professional responsibility
textbooks for over twenty years. Since 1986, this text has led the pack—making
critical changes in each edition to adjust to the different learning styles of our
students, evolving teaching methodologies of our instructors, advances made
possible by technology, and (of course) changes in the law.
Once again, Ethics for the Legal Professional has made a few bold changes:
First and foremost, this eighth edition emphasizes finding and using your own
state law. We can’t create a different edition for each state. Our challenge, then, was
to make one edition flexible enough to teach the law of all fifty states. We did that
by teaching and reinforcing important research skills. Rather than reading about
some amorphous “model rule,” that we hope can one day be applied to some simi-
lar situation, beginning in Chapter 1 students are thrown head first into “here’s the
issue, now let’s go find that law.” At the end of a brief (focused) exercise, students
are armed with their own state law to apply to that everyday ethical issue. No foo-
lin’ around. This stuff is real and immediately relevant. And, because it’s real and
relevant, it’s more challenging (less dry, not so filling) and a lot more fun! (Caveat
emptor: If you don’t have a sense of humor, you won’t like this textbook.)
In this edition, the student will find more references to specific Rules but will
need to check references to the NALA, NFPA, and NALS codes. We took out the
margin boxes about them. Instead, we focus on three primary items in the margin
boxes: Key Terms (words you must understand for each chapter); Watch the
Video (relevant videos from our collection to watch and apply the law you have
just learned in a real-life situation—explained below); and Challenge Assignments
(research for the student who is looking for more).
The eighth edition continues to tackle ethical issues in the frank, conversational
style for which the author is well known. This book is purposefully written from the
point of view of the paralegal. The lesson is “we should do this” and “we should avoid
doing that” as opposed to “the paralegal should . . . or should not . . . ” The object is to
draw the paralegal into the profession in a self-assured manner. Ethics can be scary.
The eighth edition makes every attempt to put the student at ease, to use humor,
where appropriate, and to keep the tone warm and the language user-friendly.
Our goals haven’t changed with this edition. Our promise remains the same:
By the end of this course of study, the student will be able to recognize a potential
ethical issue, put a name on it (this is a conflicts issue; this is a privilege issue; and
so on), research possible courses of action, and make an educated decision about
the next steps. We don’t expect any student to know the right thing to do in every
ethical situation. We do expect the student to spot that ethical situation, name
it, and then research state law. That means that throughout this eighth edition
we ask the student to spot, name, research, find, and then apply your state law.
The exercises throughout the book teach, guide, and then give the student a gentle
push to do the work independently. Then we reinforce the lesson through more
guided and independent practice.
We recognize that researching on the Internet can be the black hole of time, so
xvi we’ve provided a Web site that contains information about your state law. If you
Preface xvii
can’t find your state law with our research guide, go to the Web site. Then, click on
your state. It’s as easy as that!
Our Video Case Studies have gotten rave reviews from students and t eachers!
Just like the textbook, the videos are upbeat, funny when appropriate, and designed
for critical thinking. Within a chapter, you will see a video icon in the margin to
let you know that this is a good time to show a video, and assignable video case
studies have been added at the end of each chapter. The video case studies can be
accessed by instructors and students at www.pearsonhighered.com/careers.
We’ve changed the way we look at learning objectives in this edition, too!
We begin each chapter with learning objectives. Along the way throughout each
chapter, students will find “Check Your Understanding” questions and then, at the
end, we have open-ended questions to see if those objectives have been learned.
But there are also several different types of end-of-chapter exercises to meet the
learning styles of all students. First, Key Terms are reviewed at the end of each
chapter. There are open-response answers that correspond directly to the learning
objectives of the chapter. There are critical thinking hypotheticals for class dis-
cussion or essay writing. These hypotheticals include the citation to the case on
which each is based so students can discover how a court resolved the issues. There
are collaborative assignments for small groups of students and assignments that
include exercises such as discovering local resources or watching a movie looking
for ethical issues. Each chapter includes “Cases for Consideration,” followed by
short essay questions. These cases have been edited to focus the student’s attention
on the ethical issues.
We took out many of the boxes that teachers said were distracting. Margin
boxes are now restricted to Key Terms, Challenge Assignments, and Watch the
Video.
We have also added an “In the News” article to the end of each chapter
designed to engender lively classroom discussion about ethical issues that are in
the news today. Here’s the point: Ethical issues go on around us every day, but not
everyone will find them in the newspaper or trade magazines. By putting them
directly into the text, we make the news more readily available, and we provide
discussion questions to go along with each article.
Appendices
Appendix materials are as complete as we could make them in the eighth edition.
We have provided the NALA, NFPA, and NALS codes so the student doesn’t have
to look to too many outside resources. We’ve provided an entire copy of the Rules
of Professional Conduct, graciously loaned to us by several states. These Rules are
word-for-word like the ABA Model Rules but are a compilation of the rules as they
were adopted by the states. The ABA Opinion on how to handle old client files has
been taken out.
New in This Edition
Each chapter has been updated for changes in the law and reorganized—ever
searching for the perfect explanation and the clearest example. Here is a more
complete list of the most important changes and clarifications in each chapter:
Chapter 1
• An expanded discussion of what education is required for lawyers
• A new discussion of NFPA’s certifications
• A new discussion about the authority of the Supreme Court of each state
• A reorganization of the chapter so that all of the lawyer information is in
one place, followed by all of the paralegal information.
Chapter 2
• “Why Should the Practice of Law Be Limited to Lawyers?” has been
moved to follow the explanation of UPL
• A discussion about LegalZoom and other online legal assistance has been
added
• An expanded section on penalties for UPL.
Chapter 3
• This chapter has been completely reorganized (again) to more clearly
compare and contrast attorney/client privilege with the duty of
confidentiality
• The discussion of the effects of technology on confidentiality has been
expanded and now includes sample confidentiality notices
• The discussion of the exceptions to the duty of confidentiality has been
expanded
• There are new sections on offshoring and outsourcing legal work
• There is a new section on computer backup systems and how confiden-
tiality can be maintained, even when you are backing up to the cloud
• An entirely new section on how to maintain confidentiality and change
jobs.
Chapter 4
• A new discussion about how freelance paralegals can avoid conflicts of
interest
• A more complete discussion of how personal relationships create
conflicts of interest
• A new discussion about how to look for a new job while still maintaining
the confidentiality of your present job
• A more complete discussion of how to get a waiver for a conflict
of interest.
xviii
New in This Edition xix
Chapter 5
• This chapter has been reorganized to clearly delineate the differences
between advertising and solicitation
• Some attorney advertising examples have been added
• A more complete discussion of how technology has changed the subject
of attorney advertising and solicitation
• “Runners” and “cappers” have been more completely explained
• The sections “Access to Justice” and “The Unpopular Client” have been
moved to the end of the chapter
• A more complete discussion of moratoriums on contacting potential
clients
Chapter 6
• The discussion of trust accounts has been moved to the end of the
chapter and expanded
• A new section on unbundled legal services and fees
• A challenge assignment has been added on the subject of the tax
consequences of settlements
Chapter 7
• The section heading of “other causes of action” has been deleted and the
content moved to the section on who is responsible for negligence
• A new discussion about the supervisor’s duty to ensure competence
• A new discussion of ensuring competence in outsourced legal work
• A new section on competence in unbundled legal work
• Added information about nonengagement letters.
Chapter 8
• A new section on the importance of honest communication with the
client
• An expanded discussion of the duty of candor to the court.
Chapter 9
• The discussion about the duty to report misconduct has been expanded
and includes several new cases
• A new section on how an integrity issue will happen in real life with
examples of how others have handled these situations.
Resources for Teaching
The following instructor supplements are available for download from the Pearson
Instructor’s Resource Center. To access supplementary materials online, instructors
need to request an instructor access code. Go to www.pearsonhighered.com/irc,
where you can register for an instructor access code. Within 48 hours of register-
ing, you will receive a confirming e-mail including an instructor access code. Once
you have received your code, locate your text in the online catalog and click on the
Instructor Resources button on the left side of the catalog product page. Select a
supplement and a log-in page will appear. Once you have logged in, you can access
instructor material for all Pearson textbooks.
CourseSmart
CourseSmart is an exciting new choice for students looking to save money. As an
alternative to purchasing the printed textbook, students can purchase an electronic
version of the same content. With a CourseSmart eTextbook, students can search
the text, make notes online, print out reading assignments that incorporate lecture
notes, and bookmark important passages for later review. For more information,
or to purchase access to the CourseSmart eTextbook, visit www.coursesmart.com.
Acknowledgments
Reviewers
I am deeply grateful for the insights and contributions from the following
reviewers:
Brian Craig, Globe University/Minnesota School of Business;
Abby Fromang Milon, University of Central Florida;
Julia Tryk, Cuyahoga Community College;
Kylie M. Wheelis, Virginia College Online;
Ronald A. Feinberg, Suffolk Community College;
George William Jenkins, III, University of Memphis;
Roberta Lahr, Mt. San Antonio College;
Hillary Michaud, Stevenson University;
Kathleen Mercer Reed, University of Toledo;
Bruce M. Rands, Pikes Peak Community College;
Carrie Vaia, North Hennepin Community College; and
Jean Volk, Middlesex County College.
xxii
chapter one digital resources
• Video case studies
• Ancillary and State Specific Material
Available at www.pearsonhighered.com/careers
Regulation
• What Are Lawyers?
• What Is Required to Become a Lawyer?
of the Legal
• Where Do Lawyer Ethics Rules
Come From?
• Where Are the Laws of Ethics
Profession
for My State?
• What Is the Authority of the ABA Models?
• What Is the Authority of the State
Supreme Court?
• How Are Lawyers Disciplined?
• What Are Paralegals?
{Hypothetical} • How Are Paralegals Regulated?
• What Does It Mean to Be “Regulated
by the Courts”?
Paralegal Mary Rose acts as both paralegal and
• Have Paralegals Considered
calendar clerk in the law firm of Attorney Smith. Smith Self-Regulation?
asks Mary to calendar the date an answer to a com- • What Other Choices Are Available for
plaint is due. Mary makes a mistake and calendars the Regulating Paralegals?
date sixty days from the day the complaint was served
instead of thirty days. As a result, Smith does not answer
the complaint on time, and his client’s default is taken.
1
2 Chapter 1
but now that a legal education is available through the Internet, states are having
to take another look at whether this education is rigorous enough for admission
to their bar. The ABA, as an accrediting body, can also take accreditation away or
suspend a school’s accreditation. A recent example of that process can be found at
www.pearsonhighered.com/careers under “Ancillary and State Specific Material.”
bar exam. Some test just a few subjects but expect the examinee to have greater depth
of knowledge. Yet another group of states allows any graduate of that state’s law
schools to become a member of that state bar without taking a test. (Wisconsin is an
example.) This is presumably due to the state’s belief that a nyone who can gradu-
ate from its law schools must have enough skill and k nowledge to practice law. On
the other hand, California, a state that has many law schools that are unaccredited by
the ABA and the state’s accrediting body (the State Bar of California), is of the opin-
ion that everyone is entitled to an education in the law, but if you want to actually
practice law, you have to show that you’ve learned enough to pass the test—thus, the
low passing rate on the California bar as compared with that of other states.
Communist Party meetings and criticized U.S. participation in the Korean War.
When Mr. Konigsberg’s application to the bar was denied, he sued the state bar.
His case went all the way to the top: The U.S. Supreme Court did not believe that
attendance at Communist Party meetings was enough to prevent him from being
a member of the California Bar. When the California Bar denied his application
again, Konigsberg sued again. In the next Konigsberg v. California State Bar6 (also
known as Konigsberg II), the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the California State
Bar’s rejection of Konigsberg because of his refusal to answer certain questions
concerning membership in the Communist Party. Refusing to answer the ques-
tions, while not grounds for supporting an inference that he lacked good moral
character, was a sufficient impediment to the investigation of his application.
From this case we glean the rule that all questions must be answered, even if the
answer is not favorable to the applicant or seems irrelevant to the questions of
competence to practice law and good moral character.
There is a public policy reason for a good moral character requirement. The
legal profession needs the public to know that the profession is looking out for the
best interests of the public by not allowing people with “bad” moral character to prac-
tice law. Just as the profession needs to ensure members of the bar have appropriate
education for the sake of the public, so does it need to ensure members are of good
moral character. Logical, yes?
call yourself by any of those titles and not be a member of the bar fits under the
general category of the unauthorized practice of law, or UPL, which we cover in
Chapter 2. Lawyers who are partners in law firms are called partners or members
depending upon the legal form of the law firm: corporation, partnership, or lim-
ited liability company. The lawyers who work for the partners are usually called
associates. People who are still in law school but work for lawyers are called law
clerks. Because they are not yet licensed to practice law, law clerks do many of the
same tasks done by paralegals, including factual and legal research and drafting
documents. During the summer months, when law schools are typically closed for
summer vacation, law firms take on summer clerks. This is a good way for the firm
to see if this person will be a good match for the firm after graduation, and a good
way for the student to see if the firm or, indeed, the practice of law is a good fit for
him or her.
Membership
Many states require membership in the state bar association in order to have the right
to practice law in the state.9 These states are said to have “integrated” or “unified”
bars. Becoming a member of the state bar association makes each lawyer subject to
the rules of ethics enacted by the state and requires the lawyer to pay annual dues.
Other states do not require membership in a state bar association. Instead, they are
overseen by the state supreme court. Every state has rules of ethics, also called Rules
of Professional Responsibility or Rules of Professional Conduct. These are the rules that
govern lawyers.
Key Terms In addition to membership in a state bar association, many lawyers choose
to join local bar associations. These local bars may be county bars, city bars,
Partner: a person who is
a lawyer and a top member
regional bars, or special interest bars. Many lawyers also choose membership in
of a law firm that is a the ABA (American Bar Association). Contrary to urban legend, membership
partnership
Member: a person who is
lawyer and part of a limited Check Your Understanding
liability partnership
1. There are typically a few requirements to become a lawyer. What are they?
Associate: a lawyer who a. Graduating from a law school and passing a test
works in a law firm who b. Graduating from a law school, passing a bar exam, proving good moral
is junior to partners and character, taking an oath, and paying a membership fee
members c. Passing a bar exam and paying a fee to the state supreme court
Law clerk: a person d. none of the above
who works for a law firm
2. To show “good moral character,” a bar applicant must:
who is not yet a lawyer
a. have no arrests
Summer clerk: a law b. have letters of reference and no evidence of bad moral character
student who works for a law c. have a “clean” record
firm during the summer. d. receive a passing grade on a moral character exam
ABA: American Bar
3. Upon graduation from law school, a person is called:
Association. A voluntary
a. Esq.
organization of lawyers
b. JD
from across the country.
c. Attorney at Law
Its goal is to serve the legal
d. any of the above
profession.
Regulation of the Legal Profession 7
in the ABA is voluntary. ABA membership offers lawyers many benefits such as
continuing education courses and eligibility to be involved in ABA committees,
commissions, and other activities.
Early Canons
The first set of rules offered by the ABA was the 1908 Canons of Professional
Ethics. They were written by the ABA Committee on Professional Ethics and
adopted by the ABA at its thirty-first Annual Meeting in 1908. There were thirty-
two original canons that were adopted and used by many states for the next sixty-
plus years. They were based on the Code of Ethics adopted by the Alabama State
Bar Association in 1887, which was borrowed largely from the lectures of Judge
George Sharswood, published in 1854 under the title Professional Ethics, and from
the fifty resolutions included in David Hoffman’s 1836 publication: A Course of
Legal Study.10 Piecemeal amendments to the canons were occasionally made by
the ABA. Some of those early canons look rather like rules we have today, such as
the original Canon 9:
A lawyer should not in any way communicate upon the subject of contro-
versy with a party represented by counsel; much less should he undertake to
negotiate or compromise the matter with him, but should deal only with his
counsel.
That’s the same rule we have today. Another follows.
It is the duty of a lawyer to preserve his client’s confidences. This duty outlast(s)
the lawyer’s employment and extends as well to his employees; and neither of
them should accept employment which involves or may involve the disclosure
or use of these confidences, either for the private advantage of the lawyer or
his employees or to the disadvantage to the client, without his knowledge and
consent, and even though there are other available sources of such informa-
tion. A lawyer should not continue employment when he discovers that this
obligation prevents the performance of his full duty to his former or to his new
client.11
This rule is also the same!
8 Chapter 1
In other rules from the early ABA Canons, we see that the law has changed.
Challenge
Assignment An example is Canon 3412 that appears to permit lawyers to pay people for refer-
ring cases to them (“referral fees”), unlike the ABA’s position on them now. We
Do a search on the Internet
for “ABA opinions” and
talk about referral fees in Chapter 5.
you can read some recent
opinions online. 1960s Model Code of Professional Responsibility
The second ABA model was the Model Code of Professional Responsibility.
Challenge This model was released by the ABA in the late 1960s and adopted in some
Assignment form or another by forty-nine states. (California was the only holdout.) The
If Watergate is a reference Model Code had only nine canons, each of which was followed by Ethical
you are not familiar with, Considerations and Disciplinary Rules. The canons of the Model Code of
here’s a challenge assign- Professional Responsibility state in general terms the standards of professional
ment for you: John Mitchell,
conduct expected of lawyers in their relationships with the public, the legal
President Nixon’s former
system, and other legal professionals. The Ethical Considerations (EC) include
law partner, was Attorney
General of the United
reasons for the canons and guidelines that lawyers may consider while making
States during the Watergate ethical assessments. Also provided are the Disciplinary Rules (DR), a violation
Scandal. Go to www. of which is unethical as a matter of law. If lawyers should fall below the stan-
fordlibrarymuseum.gov and dards set forth in a DR, they will be subject to disciplinary action. As changes
read the indictment filed were made in case law and the needs of the public changed, the Model Code
against Mitchell and others. was also amended by the ABA, and those amendments were, by and large,
adopted by the states.
When you are researching in the area of professional responsibility, you will
Key Terms come across cases that refer to, for example, EC 4.3, so you should know what they
Canon: a rule or body of are. Because all of the states that once used the Model Code now use the law and
rules that set a standard for format of the Model Rules, you need to be able to translate from the Model Code
behavior to the Model Rules, or at least understand the relationship between the Code and
Model Code of Professional the Rules in your state. We’ll look at an example of that in a moment.
Responsibility: written by
the ABA in the 1960s, 49
states eventually used some
Code of Professional Responsibility examples:
form of this model for their
state rules of professional Canon 1: A lawyer should assist in maintaining the integrity and competence of
responsibility for lawyers the legal profession.
Ethical Consideration
(EC): reasons for the
EC 1-1 A basic tenet of the professional responsibility of lawyers is that every
canons and guidelines that
person in our society should have ready access to the independent professional
lawyers may consider while
services of the lawyer of integrity.
making ethical assessments
Disciplinary Rule (DR):
rules which if violated are DR 1-101(B) A lawyer shall not further the application for admission to the bar of
unethical another person known by him to be unqualified in respect to character, education,
or other relevant attribute.
Model Rules of
Professional Conduct:
written by the ABA in the
1980s, these rules serve as
a model for states’ rules of Model Rules of Professional Conduct Only a brief seven years passed
professional responsibility
before the Model Code’s shortcomings inspired the creation of a new ABA com-
for lawyers
mission. It would be called the Kutak Commission after its chair Robert Kutak,
Regulation of the Legal Profession 9
an inspired e thicist/lawyer from Nebraska. With Watergate in the news and the
public’s awareness of lawyer ethics on the rise, the Kutak Commission released the
Model Rules of Professional Conduct in the mid-1980s. As of this writing, all states
except one have adopted some form of the Model Rules. Even California, again the
only holdout, is considering a change to a format modeled after the ABA’s Model
Rules. The ABA makes changes to the Model Rules periodically, and some states
adopt these changes, while others do not. Your state law, not the model, is what’s
important to you.
2. Ethics opinions issued by your state’s bar or Supreme Court committee are:
a. the law of the state
b. advisory and useful for filling in the gaps when there is no statute on the issue
c. just as good as a statute
Your state’s rules may not be called by exactly that name, so you may
have to adjust your search terms a bit. Another way to find them is to visit
www.pearsonhighered.com/careers and click on “Ancillary and State Specific Material.”
We’ve provided a link to your state’s rules of professional conduct. Go and do that now.
In another browser window, find the ABA Model Rules of Professional
Conduct. You can either search for it or navigate to it on the ABA’s Web site at
http://www.americanbar.org.
Compare your state’s Rule 1.1 to the ABA Model. How closely aligned is your
state’s rule to the model? Look at Rule 8.3 on the lawyer’s duty to report the mis-
conduct of other lawyers. This is a rule that was adopted in various different ways.
Also look at the exceptions to Rule 1.6 on confidentiality. These are two examples
of rules where the states differ in their viewpoint. We will be working with your
state’s professional conduct rules in this course of study. It’s important for you to
have a copy of those rules as we move forward because, as you will see, the ABA
Models, while good for study, are not “law.”
The ABA does not allow its entire Model Rules to be reprinted. For that rea-
son, we’ve provided you with the various state Rules that most closely resemble the
Model in Appendix D.
across state lines. Organizations create models so that states can adopt the same or
similar laws. These sample “uniform codes” and model codes are meant to be just
that: models. The models themselves have no authority. The model is given author-
ity only when it becomes a state’s enactment within its own state codes. Some parts
of the model may be omitted by a state. Some parts may be modified. This is a very
important concept to remember as we go forward and study the rules of ethics, so
it bears repeating. When you see the expression “Model Rules” or “Model Code,”
you are looking at a model, or sample, law. It does not have the force of law. That
is to say, it is not actually law. The words of the model become law only when they
are adopted in your state. So, it is very important that you study the law of your
state, and not the ABA Models. If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to
locate your state’s rules of professional conduct.
Take a look at how this works using Nevada as an example. Nevada did not
adopt the Preamble or Scope sections of the Model Rules, nor did it adopt the
“Comments” to the Model Rules. (The Comments take each rule and explain it more
thoroughly so we can see how the rule may work in action.) Instead, Nevada adopted
its own Guidelines for Interpreting the Nevada Rules of Professional Conduct, which
states that the ABA Model Rules may be “consulted for guidance” in understand-
ing and using the Nevada Rules. You can see that there are substantial differences
between the ABA Model and what you need to know if you work in Nevada.
Additionally, it is important for you to know that the ABA periodically makes
changes to its model. The state where you live may incorporate these changes into
its Rules, or it may not. To sum up, then, the rules you need to look at are the most
current rules of professional conduct adopted and used in your state.
When you are researching in your state’s case law, you will see references to the
older Code of Professional Responsibility as well as references to older editions of
your state’s Rules of Professional Conduct. In order to use this case law to make your
point, you’ll have to learn to connect the older law numbers to the new numbers.
Let’s look at an example of that. Say you are researching the rule of law we talked
about earlier—the lawyer’s duty to tell the truth in letters recommending others for
bar membership. You find a case from several years ago (Case 1972) that discusses
this rule of law, but it is called Code of Professional Responsibility EC 1.3. Then
you find a more recent case on this rule of law (Case 2009), but it is called Rule of
Professional Conduct 8.1. Both cases are discussing the same law. When your state’s
law was based on the ABA Model Codes of Professional Responsibility, your state
used the Code numbering system—ECs and DRs. Your state law changed sometime
between Case 1972 and Case 2009, and now the same law is numbered 8.1.
Unless you live in California, your state is using some form of the ABA
Model Rules. Most of the states that adopted the ABA Model Rule format are
using the same numbering system that the model uses (Rule 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.). If
you compare the ABA Model Rules to your state’s rules, you’ll see if your state is
using the same numbering system or if you should be aware of some modifica-
tion. For example, in Kentucky, when the legislature adopted the new model, it
put them in the Supreme Court rules at 3.130; so instead of Rule 8.1, the rule
number is 3.130(8.1). In Florida and Missouri, the rule number has 4- in front of
it. Rule 1.2 becomes Rule 4-1.2. If you are aware of that small modification, you
will be able to easily translate the generic rule numbers we use here in the textbook
to your state’s rule numbers. (If you are interested in seeing the spreadsheet that
12 Chapter 1
shows all of the state’s numbering systems, check out the State Rules Spreadsheet
at www.pearsonhighered.com/careers.)
If you are in California, we’ve provided a chart in the appendices that will
help you find the rules that apply to you as we proceed with our study.
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