Professional Responsibility
Law 115
Fall 2012
This syllabus is provisional only! Changes will be made in the course of the semester.
ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct = MR
Disciplinary Rules of the ABA Model Code of Professional Responsibility = MC DR
Hazard, Koniak, Cramton, Cohen & Wendel, The Law and Ethics of Lawyering (5th ed. 2010) = Hazard
I. Preliminary Matters
A. The Adversary System and the Moral Role of the Lawyer - Spaulding v. Zimmerman
Hazard 1-13
Study Questions
B. Sources of Law
Hazard 13-19
MR Preamble and Scope
C. Admission to the Bar
Hazard 1038-45
D. Standards for Discipline
Hazard 43-44, 1152-63
MR 8.4 & Comments
Study Questions
E. Multijurisdictional Practice & Choice of Law
Hazard 1131-46
MR 5.5 & Comments; MR 8.5 & Comments
Study Questions
II. The Lawyer-Client Relationship: Its Scope, Creation, and Termination
A. Introduction to the Lawyer-Client Relationship
Hazard 770-75
B. Forming the Lawyer-Client Relationship and Obligations to Prospective Clients
Hazard 853-58
Study Questions
C. The Scope of Representation
1. Paternalism and the Allocation
of Authority Between Lawyer & Client
MR 1.2(a)-(c) & Comments [1]-[8]
MR 1.4 & Comments
MR 1.14 & Comments
MR 1.16(a)(3) & Comments [4]-[6]
MR 2.1 & Comments
Hazard 828-45
Study Question
2. Compulsory Limits on Scope: Facilitating Crime or Fraud
MR 1.2(d) & Comments [9]-[13]
MR 4.1 & Comments
Hazard 111-18
Study Questions
D. Declining and Terminating Representation
1. Permissive Rejection of Prospective Clients
MR 6.2 & Comments
No Study Questions
2. Permissive and Mandatory Withdrawal
MR 1.16 & Comments
Hazard 846-52
Study Questions
III. The Problem of Organizational Clients
Hazard 145-51, 254-56
MR
1.13(a)-(b),(e)-(f) & Comments [1]-[5], [10]-[12]
Study Questions
IV. Duties of Confidentiality
A. Duties of Confidentiality in the Law of Evidence
1. The Attorney-Client Privilege
Hazard 257-67
Study Questions
2. Should There Be a Corporate
Attorney-Client Privilege (and If So, What Is Its Scope)?
Hazard 267-81
Study Questions
3. Problems with the Corporate Attorney-Client Privlege
Hazard 510-27
Study Questions
4. The Work-Product Doctrine
Hazard 281-84
Study Questions
5. The Impact of the Client's Privilege Against Self-Incrimination
Hazard 284-93
Study Questions
6. Exceptions: Crime-Fraud
Hazard 294-305
Study Questions
7. Exceptions: Attorney Self-Defense
Hazard 348
No Study Questions
8. Exceptions: Physical Evidence
Hazard 26-42, MR 3.4(a) & Comments [1]-[2]
Study Questions
9. Exceptions: Waiver
Hazard 320-31, MR 4.4(b) & Comments [2]-[3]
Study Questions
B. Professional Duties of Confidentiality
1. Scope of the Duty
Hazard 331-39
MR 1.6(a),
(b)(4), (b)(6), Comments [1]-[5], [9], [12]-[13], [16]-[18]
MC DR 4-101(A)
Va. R. Prof. Conduct 1.6(a)
MR
1.8(b) & Comment [5], 1.9(c) & Comment [8], 1.18(a)-(b) &
Comments [1]-[2], MC DR 4-101(B), (C)(1)-(2), (D)
Study Questions
2. Exceptions: Self-Defense
MR 1.6(b)(5) & Comments [10]-[11]
MC DR 4-101(C)(4)
Hazard 340-48
Study Questions
3. Exceptions: Client Fraud or Crime
Hazard 348-61
MR 1.6(b)(2)-(3) & Comments [7]-[8]
MR 1.13(c)-(d) & Comments [6]-[7]
MR 4.1 & Comments
MC DR 4-101(C)(3)
Va. R. Prof. Conduct 1.6(b)(3), (c)(1)
Study Questions
4. Exceptions: Bodily Harm or Death
MR 1.6(b)(1) & Comments [6], [14]-[15]
Hazard 361-80
Study Questions
V. The Lawyer-Client Relationship: Duties of Loyalty
A. Concurrent Conflicts of Interest: General Principles
Hazard 391-99
MR 1.7 & Comments [1]-[9], [13]-[21]
Study Questions
B. Concurrent Representation in Civil Litigation
Hazard 399-426
MR 1.7 Comments [22]-[25]
Study Questions
C. Hot Potato Doctrine
Hazard 426-27
Study Questions
D. Personal Interest Conflicts
Hazard 427-29, 811-25
MR 1.7 Comments [10]-[12], MR
1.8(a)-(c), (e), (j)-(k) & Comments [1]-[8], [10], [17]-[20]
Study Questions
E. Concurrent Representation in Criminal Litigation
Hazard 430-42
F. Joint Representation in Civil Matters
Hazard 442-53, MR 1.7 Comments [26]-[33]
Study Questions
G. Successive Representation
Hazard 455-66
MR 1.9(a)-(b) & Comments
[1]-[7], [9], 1.18(c)-(d) & Comments [3]-[8]
Study Questions
H. Imputed Conflicts & Transitory Lawyers
Hazard 467-70, 482-87
MR 1.10 & Comments, Comment [20] to MR 1.8, Comment [11] to MR 1.7
Study Questions
VI. The Lawyer-Client Relationship: Duties of Competence and Diligence
A. Professional Duties of Competence and Diligence
MR 1.1 & Comments, 1.3 & Comments
Hazard 859-64
No Study Questions
B. Malpractice
Hazard 864-83, 910-12
Study Questions
C. Malpractice Liability to Third Parties
Hazard 93-105
Study Questions
VII. Duties to the Court and to Third Parties
A. Abusive Litigation
1. Professional Duties
Hazard 678-83
MR 3.1 & Comments
MR 3.2 & Comments
No Study Questions
B. Duty of Honesty to the Court
Hazard 652-57, 668-77
MR 3.3 & Comments
MR 8.1 & Comments
Study Questions
C. Duty of Honesty to Others
MR 4.1
No Study Questions
D. The No-Contact Rule, Unrepresented Parties
MR 4.2 & Comments, MR 4.3 & Comments
Study Questions
E. Duties to Report Another Lawyer’s Misconduct
MR 8.3 & Comments
Hazard 1163-71
Study Questions
VIII. Big Firm Practice
Hazard 1114-15
MR 5.1 & Comments
MR 5.2 & Comments
No Study Questions
IX. Fees & Handling Client's Property
1.5(a)-(d)
Hazard 786-88
Hazard 825-28
MR 1.15(a)-(c) & Comments [1]-[3]
Study Questions
X. Advertising and Solicitation
MR 7.1 & Comments
MR 7.2 & Comments
MR 7.3 & Comments
MR 7.5(b)
MR 1.5(e)
Study Questions