This post was written by StephanieWestAllen: "Abstract:

One of the final plenary sessions of the International Legal Ethics Conference IV in Stanford was on the Jurisprudence of Legal Ethics. Moderated by David Luban, the panelists answered and discussed questions arising from short papers they had written on a set question: Is the concern of legal ethics the morality of lawyers, the morality of clients, or the morality of laws?

Those papers, which are to be published in Legal Ethics, are compiled here, along with the question and background information with which the panelists were provided.

Click to download "The Concerns of Legal Ethics" (SSRN).

Note: Other posts about the Conference: International Legal Ethics Conference IV: "The Legal Profession in Times of Turbulence".

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Source: idealawg, 22 July 2010, reproduced with permission of the author.

From an e-newsletter by Tom Mighell: "I was honored to write an article for Texas Bar Journal, which was just published this past week.  The issue had a criminal law theme, so my article is titled "The Cyber-Ethical Criminal Defense Lawyer:  Or, How Not to Commit Malpractice With Your Technology."  But it really applies to any lawyer's practice - in fact, I got an email this week from in-house counsel for a hospital letting me know that they found the article very helpful.  So give it a look.  You can visit the Bar Journal to read everything, or just look at the PDF of my article.

http://www.texasbar.com/tbj

http://bit.ly/aFGKUF (link to article)"

Source: Mighell, Tom. The Mighell Marker: A Legal Technology Weekly. Volume 11, Issue 18. 11 July 2010. Subscribe <http://www.inter-alia.net>.

This post was written by Laura Bergus: "The people in charge of lawyer ethics oversight in your state see social media either as just another form of communication, or as a special threat to client confidences and attorney decorum. Do you know what rules apply to you?

The basic premise that traditional ethics rules should govern social media seems sound. But some states, like Florida, have decided to pull out online communication as needing special regulation. Here are five areas of concern for lawyers using social media.

Regardless of your state ethics committee's stance, consider taking some time to re-learn the local rules..."

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Source: Lawyerist.com, 2 June 2010. © 2007-2010 Lawyerist Media, LLC. Reproduced with permission of the site editor, Sam Glover.

In the news: "It's not as if lawyers never misbehaved. But now they're making the old mistakes -- soliciting sex, slamming judges, talking trash about clients -- online. Legal ethics expert Michael Downey observes that lawyers' risk-averse tendency seems to fade on the web and shares some exemplars."

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Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 11 May 2010. Copyright 2009.  ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe  <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.

In the news: "Associates can stay clear of ethical issues if they agree to disagree with partners who are supervising them, says attorney Samuel C. Stretton. Unfortunately, Stretton doesn't have good news for attorneys who are dealing with Web sites that refuse to update their disciplinary records."

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Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 16 April 2010. Copyright 2009.  ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe  <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.

This post was written by Kevin Chern: "You have probably seen a lot written about legal process outsourcing and virtual workers. Virtual workers and outsourced legal services providers can help attorneys increase productivity and cut down the costs that might be spent on hiring full-time, in-house staff. Over the next few weeks, I'd like to dig a little deeper into the nuts and bolts of hiring virtual workers.

Making the decision to hire a virtual worker or pay for legal process outsourcing can be as simple as hiring an independent contractor fresh out of law school to do easy tasks, but if you are serious about using virtual workers on a larger scale in your firm and really getting the most out of it, it is important be aware of ethics considerations; price benefits and initial investments; and intangible benefits and costs when weighing the options of paying for a full-time staff, hiring on-site independent contractors, using outsourced service providers or juggling all of the work on your own..."

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Source: Lawyerist.com, 12 April 2010. © 2007-2010 Lawyerist Media, LLC. Reproduced with permission of the site editor, Sam Glover.

This post was written by Mark Bennett: "In the criminal courthouse, lawyers generally keep their word. Unlike our colleagues in the civil courthouse (which still smells of cat pee), we don't need Rule 11. We write things down not because we might otherwise change our mind, but because we might otherwise forget. If I tell an adversary that I'm going to do something, I do it; I expect the same from my adversaries.

A prosecutor who lies or doesn't keep his word will quickly (in a matter of minutes, thanks to the marvels of modern technology) develop a reputation for dishonesty in the criminal defense bar. (I suspect that the same is true of dishonest defense lawyers and the DA's Office.)

So what happens when one prosecutor says he'll do something, and another prosecutor in the same office blocks him from doing it?..."

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Source: Defending People, 1 April 2010. © 2010 Defending People, reproduced with permission of the author.

In the news: "Joel Cohen and Katherine Helm, finding themselves awash in announcements of lectures and public appearances by notable "formers" such as Lynne Stewart, Eliot Spitzer and Rod Blagojevich, raise these questions: Unshackled from the rules of evidence and impeachability, when should someone be discredited based on what he or she may have done in the past? If judging information involves judging values, at what point must lawyers themselves stand up and demand that speakers be scrupulous and practice what they preach?"

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Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 5 April 2010. Copyright 2009.  ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.

In the news: "The perils of online communication by judges and lawyers have emerged in several scenarios that highlight what happens when social networking sites and ethical boundaries meet, observes Ken Strutin, director of legal information services at the New York State Defenders Association."

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Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 17 March 2010. Copyright 2009.  ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.

This post was written by Susan Cartier Liebel: "Beyond the usual internet concerns about inadvertently establishing an attorney-client relationship or giving advice on inadequate information, online networking can create ethical risks that might not be readily apparent. This post highlights some ethical risks on four social media sites frequented by lawyers: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube..."

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Source: Build a Solo Practice, 11 March 2010. © SPU 2010 Susan Cartier Liebel, reproduced with permission.