Legal Ethics

Expert Analysis

• An OFAC Compliance Checklist For Ransomware Payments

  

  As the U.S. government heightens its scrutiny of ransomware payments, victims that pay extortion demands can follow 12 steps to help establish the requisite mitigation and due diligence to avoid penalties from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, says cybersecurity consultant John Reed Stark.

• Opinion

  UK Is Proof Nonlawyer Ownership Threatens Legal Profession

  

  Advocates claim that nonlawyer ownership of law firms — now allowed in Arizona — will increase low-income Americans' access to legal services, but the reality in the U.K. demonstrates that nonlawyer owners are drawn to profitable areas like personal injury and create serious conflicts of interest, say Austin Bersinger and Nicola Rossi at Bersinger Law.

• Remote Bar Exams Pose New Learning Disability Challenges

  

  New bar exam formats necessitated by the COVID-19 crisis — going from paper to computer, in-person to remote, human to artificial intelligence proctoring — may exacerbate shortcomings in disability assessments for learning-disabled test takers seeking accommodations, says Rebecca Mannis at Ivy Prep.

• New Ariz. Law Practice Rules May Jump-Start National Reform

  

  Arizona's far-reaching new rules opening its legal sector up to nonlawyer participation may encourage other states to follow suit, with both positive and negative consequences for clients, the justice system, legal education and lawyers' careers, say Maya Steinitz at the University of Iowa and Victoria Sahani at Arizona State University.

• New Criminal Rule 5(f) Firms Up Prosecutor Brady Obligations

  

  New Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 5(f) highlights the importance of prosecutorial compliance with Brady obligations by producing exculpatory materials at the beginning of every criminal case and marks an important win in the battle for a more fair and balanced justice system, say Lily Becker and Amy Walsh at Orrick.

• 10 Tips For Your Next Virtual Court Appearance

  

  Many federal and state courts will likely embrace virtual proceedings even after pandemic-related restrictions are lifted, so attorneys should get comfortable with the virtual platforms commonly used by courts, and follow a few audio and video best practices, says Justin Heminger, a senior litigation counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice.

• Don't Let Lies Infiltrate The Mediation Process

  

  The pandemic-era rise in mediation brings about the increased risk that participants will engage in dishonest behavior with the expectation that settlement negotiations will be kept confidential, but lawyers should beware that state confidentiality protections differ, and that courts have applied ethical rules in the mediation context, say Jennifer Gibbs and Amanda Rodriguez at Zelle.

• Perspectives

  Judges On Race: Lack Of Data Deters Criminal Justice Reform

  

  Many state courts' failure to gather basic data on sentencing and other important criminal justice metrics frustrates efforts to keep checks on judges’ implicit biases and reduce racial disparities, say Justice Michael Donnelly at the Ohio Supreme Court and Judge Pierre Bergeron at the Ohio First District Court of Appeals.

• Law Firms Should Note GCs' Growing Focus On Biz Strategies

  

  Amid the challenges of the pandemic, a shifting digital landscape, and increasing calls for diversity and inclusion, general counsel responsibilities are expanding into six new areas, highlighting the need for both in-house and outside counsel to serve as strategic and empathetic business leaders, say Wendy King at FTI Consulting and David Horrigan at Relativity.

• 3 Ways To Shield Cyber Reports After Clark Hill Breach Ruling

  

  Following a D.C. federal court's recent ruling in Wengui v. Clark Hill that a forensic cyberattack report was not protected work product — more restrictive than last year's Capital One decision — companies should follow new best practices for protecting reports from discoverability, say Colin Jennings and Ericka Johnson at Squire Patton.

• Privilege Lessons From Clark Hill Cybersecurity Doc Ruling

  

  A D.C. federal court's recent rejection of attorney-client privilege and work-product protection claims over post-breach cybersecurity forensic reports in Wengui v. Clark Hill should caution companies to structure their cyberattack investigations in ways that make legal concerns clear, say attorneys at Orrick.

• 6 Changes The Legal Industry Should Prepare For

  

  As clients increasingly demand better efficiency, predictability and cost-effectiveness from their legal partners, especially during the pandemic, law firms and other legal service providers may need to explore new ways to bundle and deliver services — and move away from billing by time, says Joey Seeber at Level Legal.

• Arizona May Have Nudged US Law Firms Toward Future IPOs

  

  No U.S. law firm has its shares listed on a public stock exchange unlike some lucrative overseas counterparts, but by allowing nonattorneys to become stakeholders in law firms, Arizona may have paved the way for this to change should other U.S. states — particularly New York — follow suit, says Marc Lieberman at Kutak Rock.

• 4 Legal Industry Trends Litigation Financiers Are Watching

  

  Some recent litigation developments demonstrate efforts by law firms and their clients to search for opportunities in the COVID-19 economic fallout, while others — such as the rise of contingency fee arrangements — reflect acceleration of tendencies that were already underway, says William Weisman at Therium Capital.

• A Lawyer's Guide To Setting Well-Being Goals In 2021

  

  In the face of rising client demands due to the pandemic and the changing regulatory environment, and with remote work continuing for the foreseeable future, lawyers should invest in their well-being by establishing inspiring yet realistic goals for 2021 — one month at a time, says Krista Larson at Morgan Lewis.