Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Small Firm Ethics: Tech, Paralegals, Remote & More

$89.00

Solo and small firm practitioners wear many hats. They practice law but also run the office and manage all of its information technology – file storage, email, and Web sites.  They may supervise paralegals or contract attorneys. They also need to be attentive to developing new clients. Each of these and other roles comes with ethical issues and traps.  Email, file storage, and law firm web sites implicate issues of competence, confidentiality, and potentially the attorney-client privilege.  Supervising paralegals or junior attorneys implicates supervisory ethics and conflicts of interest.  Client development also implicates a range of ethics issues.  It’s a lot to manage for a firm of any size, but particularly for smaller firms.This program will provide you with a practical guide to major ethics issues for solo and small firm practitioners.   Ethical issues for small law firms and solo practitioners Technology – storing client files in “the Cloud,” email traps, and remote networks Pooled Resources – shared office/meeting space, shared support staff, shared technology Client Development – web sites and lawyer biographies, email/newsletters, social media, advertising and more Paralegals – training and billing, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege Co-Counsel – ethical responsibilities when practicing with other lawyers   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is of counsel in the Tysons Corners, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, where he advises firm clients on professional responsibility issues and properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  He has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and is a Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.  He has written extensively on attorney-client privilege, ethics and other topics, and has spoken at over 2000 CLE programs throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries.  Through links on his website biography, he has made available to the public his summaries of over 1,600 Virginia and ABA legal ethics opinions, organized by topic; a 300 page summary of his two-volume 1,500 page book on the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine; over 900 weekly email alerts about privilege and work product cases; and materials for 40 ethics programs on numerous topics, totaling over 9,000 pages of analysis.   H. Michael Drumm is the founder and member of Drumm Law, LLC in Denver, Colorado, where he has an extensive franchise, trademark and business transactional practice.  He works with franchisors across industries nationwide helping them draft, file and renew their franchise Disclosure Documents and franchise agreements.  He has a specialty representing craft breweries to help them trademark their brands and protect their intellectual property. He has been repeatedly honored by Franchise Times magazine as a “Legal Eagle” and has been designated by the International Franchise Association as a “Certified Franchise Executive.”  

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 8/7/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE
Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Small Firm Ethics: Tech, Paralegals, Remote & More

$89.00

Solo and small firm practitioners wear many hats. They practice law but also run the office and manage all of its information technology – file storage, email, and Web sites.  They may supervise paralegals or contract attorneys. They also need to be attentive to developing new clients. Each of these and other roles comes with ethical issues and traps.  Email, file storage, and law firm web sites implicate issues of competence, confidentiality, and potentially the attorney-client privilege.  Supervising paralegals or junior attorneys implicates supervisory ethics and conflicts of interest.  Client development also implicates a range of ethics issues.  It’s a lot to manage for a firm of any size, but particularly for smaller firms.This program will provide you with a practical guide to major ethics issues for solo and small firm practitioners.   Ethical issues for small law firms and solo practitioners Technology – storing client files in “the Cloud,” email traps, and remote networks Pooled Resources – shared office/meeting space, shared support staff, shared technology Client Development – web sites and lawyer biographies, email/newsletters, social media, advertising and more Paralegals – training and billing, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege Co-Counsel – ethical responsibilities when practicing with other lawyers   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is of counsel in the Tysons Corners, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, where he advises firm clients on professional responsibility issues and properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  He has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and is a Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.  He has written extensively on attorney-client privilege, ethics and other topics, and has spoken at over 2000 CLE programs throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries.  Through links on his website biography, he has made available to the public his summaries of over 1,600 Virginia and ABA legal ethics opinions, organized by topic; a 300 page summary of his two-volume 1,500 page book on the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine; over 900 weekly email alerts about privilege and work product cases; and materials for 40 ethics programs on numerous topics, totaling over 9,000 pages of analysis.   H. Michael Drumm is the founder and member of Drumm Law, LLC in Denver, Colorado, where he has an extensive franchise, trademark and business transactional practice.  He works with franchisors across industries nationwide helping them draft, file and renew their franchise Disclosure Documents and franchise agreements.  He has a specialty representing craft breweries to help them trademark their brands and protect their intellectual property. He has been repeatedly honored by Franchise Times magazine as a “Legal Eagle” and has been designated by the International Franchise Association as a “Certified Franchise Executive.”  

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 8/7/2025
    Presented
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Course1

Contract Crafting: Navigating Ethical Issues in Drafting

$89.00

Negotiating, drafting and reviewing contracts are processes fraught with ethical issues.  Negotiations sometimes require zealous advocacy, taking maximal positions; other times, they require delicacy and balance. Reviewing and drafting complex contracts is a similar ethical minefield. If you discover that the draft of a contract contains materially incorrect assumptions about the law but which will benefit your client, do you have the duty to disclose or correct the error?  In the same way, if the contract contains faulty assumptions about material facts, must you disclose those faulty assumptions?  And how do these rules apply when drafting a contract?  This program will provide you with a real world guide to the ethics of negotiating, drafting and reviewing contracts.   The law – when you know a counterparty has made faulty assumptions benefiting your client, must you say? The facts – when a counterparty makes faulty factual assumptions, must you correct? Ethics and rescission – are you ever ethically obligated to rescind or restate a contract? Ethics in negotiations – what’s the line between zealous representation and deception?    Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is of counsel in the Tysons Corners, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, where he advises firm clients on professional responsibility issues and properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  He has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and is a Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.  He has written extensively on attorney-client privilege, ethics and other topics, and has spoken at over 2000 CLE programs throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries.  Through links on his website biography, he has made available to the public his summaries of over 1,600 Virginia and ABA legal ethics opinions, organized by topic; a 300 page summary of his two-volume 1,500 page book on the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine; over 900 weekly email alerts about privilege and work product cases; and materials for 40 ethics programs on numerous topics, totaling over 9,000 pages of analysis.  

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 8/12/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE
Course1

Contract Crafting: Navigating Ethical Issues in Drafting

$89.00

Negotiating, drafting and reviewing contracts are processes fraught with ethical issues.  Negotiations sometimes require zealous advocacy, taking maximal positions; other times, they require delicacy and balance. Reviewing and drafting complex contracts is a similar ethical minefield. If you discover that the draft of a contract contains materially incorrect assumptions about the law but which will benefit your client, do you have the duty to disclose or correct the error?  In the same way, if the contract contains faulty assumptions about material facts, must you disclose those faulty assumptions?  And how do these rules apply when drafting a contract?  This program will provide you with a real world guide to the ethics of negotiating, drafting and reviewing contracts.   The law – when you know a counterparty has made faulty assumptions benefiting your client, must you say? The facts – when a counterparty makes faulty factual assumptions, must you correct? Ethics and rescission – are you ever ethically obligated to rescind or restate a contract? Ethics in negotiations – what’s the line between zealous representation and deception?    Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is of counsel in the Tysons Corners, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, where he advises firm clients on professional responsibility issues and properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  He has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and is a Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.  He has written extensively on attorney-client privilege, ethics and other topics, and has spoken at over 2000 CLE programs throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries.  Through links on his website biography, he has made available to the public his summaries of over 1,600 Virginia and ABA legal ethics opinions, organized by topic; a 300 page summary of his two-volume 1,500 page book on the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine; over 900 weekly email alerts about privilege and work product cases; and materials for 40 ethics programs on numerous topics, totaling over 9,000 pages of analysis.  

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 8/12/2025
    Presented
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Course1

Lawyer Ethics and the Internet

$89.00

The Internet is the uniform information appliance for communications, research, and marketing, for consumers and for lawyers.  You can easily research witnesses, parties, judges, and jurors with a simple Google search.  Add in social media searches – blogs, Facebook, Twitter and many other platforms – and you can develop a rich demographic profile of all of these individuals.  With a few keystrokes, you can pull down more information than ever before. You can also communicate freely, unmediated and unrestricted, with virtually anyone. All of these functions are valuable in litigation and transactional practice but also give rise to substantial ethics issues – not everything that the Web enables is proper. This program will provide you with a real world guide to ethics issues when lawyer engage in research and communication using the Internet.    Communicating with parties, opposing attorneys, and witnesses via email, social media, and texting Researching jurors, parties, witnesses and judges via social media Blogging or sending newsletters/law updates to clients Trends in texting, confidentiality, and discoverability Law firm marketing via the web   Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  

  • MP3 Download
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 8/16/2025
    Avail. Until
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Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Lawyer Ethics When Clients Won't Pay Your Fees

$89.00

Attorneys and clients are in a confidential relationship, one that demands the lawyer’s absolute loyalty and zealous representation of client interests.  But what if the client refuses to pay his or her lawyer?  At that point, the broad and categorical demands of the ethics rules run up against the practical business of running a law practice. This clash of interests raises a range of substantial ethical issues.  How can the lawyer compel payment yet continuing representing a client?  Must he or she withdraw from the representation?  Can the lawyer sue the client or place a lien on client property?  Is the lawyer allowed to breach certain confidences in obtaining payment? This program will provide you with a guide to the ethical issues that arise when a client refuses to pay for a lawyer’s legal services, practical methods to ethically obtain payment, and best practices to avoid these disputes. Ethics when clients refuse to pay their lawyers’ fees How to manage the direct conflict with a client without breaching confidences Determining whether continuing a representation is permissible or required When and how a withdrawal from a representation is permitted in the cases of non-payment of fees Ethical issues when a lawyer places a lien on client property or sues the client Issues when no-payment relates to one of multiple representations of a client Understanding related attorney-client privilege issues Best practices in engagement letters and billing practices to protect lawyers   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.     Matthew Corbin is Vice President and Director in the Professional Services Group of AON Risk Services, where he consults with the company’s law firm clients on professional responsibility and liability issues.  Before joining AON, he was a partner with Lathrop & Gage, LLP, where he was a trial and appellate lawyer handling professional liability, commercial, business tort, employment, construction, insurance, and regulatory matters. Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial clerk to Judge Mary Briscoe of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.  

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 8/22/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE
Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Lawyer Ethics When Clients Won't Pay Your Fees

$89.00

Attorneys and clients are in a confidential relationship, one that demands the lawyer’s absolute loyalty and zealous representation of client interests.  But what if the client refuses to pay his or her lawyer?  At that point, the broad and categorical demands of the ethics rules run up against the practical business of running a law practice. This clash of interests raises a range of substantial ethical issues.  How can the lawyer compel payment yet continuing representing a client?  Must he or she withdraw from the representation?  Can the lawyer sue the client or place a lien on client property?  Is the lawyer allowed to breach certain confidences in obtaining payment? This program will provide you with a guide to the ethical issues that arise when a client refuses to pay for a lawyer’s legal services, practical methods to ethically obtain payment, and best practices to avoid these disputes. Ethics when clients refuse to pay their lawyers’ fees How to manage the direct conflict with a client without breaching confidences Determining whether continuing a representation is permissible or required When and how a withdrawal from a representation is permitted in the cases of non-payment of fees Ethical issues when a lawyer places a lien on client property or sues the client Issues when no-payment relates to one of multiple representations of a client Understanding related attorney-client privilege issues Best practices in engagement letters and billing practices to protect lawyers   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.     Matthew Corbin is Vice President and Director in the Professional Services Group of AON Risk Services, where he consults with the company’s law firm clients on professional responsibility and liability issues.  Before joining AON, he was a partner with Lathrop & Gage, LLP, where he was a trial and appellate lawyer handling professional liability, commercial, business tort, employment, construction, insurance, and regulatory matters. Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial clerk to Judge Mary Briscoe of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.  

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 8/22/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE
Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Ethics in Discovery Practice

$89.00

Discovery can be the most important phase of litigation, directing the course and outcome of the case.  How evidence is discovered, how it is used, and how mistakes in its handling are disclosed and remedied all raise very significant ethical issues. These issues – the risk of mishandling – are increased by the vast growth of ESI, electronically stored information. Litigators have certain obligations that their vendors comply with ethics rules. There are also issues surrounding the use of paralegals in discovery practice.  Failure to ensure ethics compliance during discovery can have a material adverse impact on the underlying litigation and draw an ethics complaint.  This program will provide you with a real-world guide to substantial issues ethical issues that arise in discovery practice and how to avoid ethics complaints.    Duty of candor to the tribunal during discovery Ethical issues when you learn that a client is dishonest Inadvertent disclosure privileged documents and their handling Ethics in depositions – conferring with witnesses, using video depositions and more Ethical issues in widespread data mining of discovery documents Issues involving metadata in electronic files – documents, email, text messages Attorney-client privilege and security issues of working with outside e-discovery vendors Ethics and social media discovery   Speakers: Elizabeth Treubert Simon is an ethics attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, where she advises on a wide range of ethics and compliance-related matters to support Akin Gump’s offices worldwide.  Previously, she practiced law in Washington DC and New York, focusing on business and commercial litigation and providing counsel to clients regarding professional ethics and attorney disciplinary procedures.  She is a member of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Discipline and the District of Columbia Legal Ethics Committee.  She writes and speaks extensively on attorney ethics issues.    Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 8/26/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE
Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Ethics in Discovery Practice

$89.00

Discovery can be the most important phase of litigation, directing the course and outcome of the case.  How evidence is discovered, how it is used, and how mistakes in its handling are disclosed and remedied all raise very significant ethical issues. These issues – the risk of mishandling – are increased by the vast growth of ESI, electronically stored information. Litigators have certain obligations that their vendors comply with ethics rules. There are also issues surrounding the use of paralegals in discovery practice.  Failure to ensure ethics compliance during discovery can have a material adverse impact on the underlying litigation and draw an ethics complaint.  This program will provide you with a real-world guide to substantial issues ethical issues that arise in discovery practice and how to avoid ethics complaints.    Duty of candor to the tribunal during discovery Ethical issues when you learn that a client is dishonest Inadvertent disclosure privileged documents and their handling Ethics in depositions – conferring with witnesses, using video depositions and more Ethical issues in widespread data mining of discovery documents Issues involving metadata in electronic files – documents, email, text messages Attorney-client privilege and security issues of working with outside e-discovery vendors Ethics and social media discovery   Speakers: Elizabeth Treubert Simon is an ethics attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, where she advises on a wide range of ethics and compliance-related matters to support Akin Gump’s offices worldwide.  Previously, she practiced law in Washington DC and New York, focusing on business and commercial litigation and providing counsel to clients regarding professional ethics and attorney disciplinary procedures.  She is a member of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Discipline and the District of Columbia Legal Ethics Committee.  She writes and speaks extensively on attorney ethics issues.    Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 8/26/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE
Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Ethics in Discovery Practice

$89.00

Discovery can be the most important phase of litigation, directing the course and outcome of the case.  How evidence is discovered, how it is used, and how mistakes in its handling are disclosed and remedied all raise very significant ethical issues. These issues – the risk of mishandling – are increased by the vast growth of ESI, electronically stored information. Litigators have certain obligations that their vendors comply with ethics rules. There are also issues surrounding the use of paralegals in discovery practice.  Failure to ensure ethics compliance during discovery can have a material adverse impact on the underlying litigation and draw an ethics complaint.  This program will provide you with a real-world guide to substantial issues ethical issues that arise in discovery practice and how to avoid ethics complaints.    Duty of candor to the tribunal during discovery Ethical issues when you learn that a client is dishonest Inadvertent disclosure privileged documents and their handling Ethics in depositions – conferring with witnesses, using video depositions and more Ethical issues in widespread data mining of discovery documents Issues involving metadata in electronic files – documents, email, text messages Attorney-client privilege and security issues of working with outside e-discovery vendors Ethics and social media discovery   Speakers: Elizabeth Treubert Simon is an ethics attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, where she advises on a wide range of ethics and compliance-related matters to support Akin Gump’s offices worldwide.  Previously, she practiced law in Washington DC and New York, focusing on business and commercial litigation and providing counsel to clients regarding professional ethics and attorney disciplinary procedures.  She is a member of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Discipline and the District of Columbia Legal Ethics Committee.  She writes and speaks extensively on attorney ethics issues.    Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 8/26/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE
Course1

Internet Ethics: Navigating Lawyer Responsibilities Online

$89.00

The Internet is the uniform information appliance for communications, research, and marketing, for consumers and for lawyers.  You can easily research witnesses, parties, judges, and jurors with a simple Google search.  Add in social media searches – blogs, Facebook, Twitter and many other platforms – and you can develop a rich demographic profile of all of these individuals.  With a few keystrokes, you can pull down more information than ever before. You can also communicate freely, unmediated and unrestricted, with virtually anyone. All of these functions are valuable in litigation and transactional practice but also give rise to substantial ethics issues – not everything that the Web enables is proper. This program will provide you with a real world guide to ethics issues when lawyer engage in research and communication using the Internet.    Communicating with parties, opposing attorneys, and witnesses via email, social media, and texting Researching jurors, parties, witnesses and judges via social media Blogging or sending newsletters/law updates to clients Trends in texting, confidentiality, and discoverability Law firm marketing via the web   Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 9/4/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE
Course1

Internet Ethics: Navigating Lawyer Responsibilities Online

$89.00

The Internet is the uniform information appliance for communications, research, and marketing, for consumers and for lawyers.  You can easily research witnesses, parties, judges, and jurors with a simple Google search.  Add in social media searches – blogs, Facebook, Twitter and many other platforms – and you can develop a rich demographic profile of all of these individuals.  With a few keystrokes, you can pull down more information than ever before. You can also communicate freely, unmediated and unrestricted, with virtually anyone. All of these functions are valuable in litigation and transactional practice but also give rise to substantial ethics issues – not everything that the Web enables is proper. This program will provide you with a real world guide to ethics issues when lawyer engage in research and communication using the Internet.    Communicating with parties, opposing attorneys, and witnesses via email, social media, and texting Researching jurors, parties, witnesses and judges via social media Blogging or sending newsletters/law updates to clients Trends in texting, confidentiality, and discoverability Law firm marketing via the web   Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 9/4/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE
Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Communicating in Opposing Counsel & the Courts: Professionalism and Ethics

$89.00

Effective communication is key to a successful legal practice, especially when dealing with opposing counsel and the courts. This session explores the ethical and professional responsibilities lawyers have in their communications, offering strategies to maintain professionalism even in contentious situations. Learn how to navigate challenging interactions while upholding your ethical obligations.   Highlights:   The ethical guidelines governing communications with opposing counsel. Best practices for clear and professional court filings and oral advocacy. Strategies for managing contentious or unprofessional opposing counsel. Avoiding ethical pitfalls in email and written correspondence. Real-life examples of communication missteps and how to avoid them.   Speaker: TBD

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 9/22/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE
Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Communicating in Opposing Counsel & the Courts: Professionalism and Ethics

$89.00

Effective communication is key to a successful legal practice, especially when dealing with opposing counsel and the courts. This session explores the ethical and professional responsibilities lawyers have in their communications, offering strategies to maintain professionalism even in contentious situations. Learn how to navigate challenging interactions while upholding your ethical obligations.   Highlights:   The ethical guidelines governing communications with opposing counsel. Best practices for clear and professional court filings and oral advocacy. Strategies for managing contentious or unprofessional opposing counsel. Avoiding ethical pitfalls in email and written correspondence. Real-life examples of communication missteps and how to avoid them.   Speaker: TBD

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 9/22/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE
Course1

Crafting Contracts: Ethical Issues for Drafters

$89.00

Negotiating, drafting and reviewing contracts are processes fraught with ethical issues.  Negotiations sometimes require zealous advocacy, taking maximal positions; other times, they require delicacy and balance. Reviewing and drafting complex contracts is a similar ethical minefield. If you discover that the draft of a contract contains materially incorrect assumptions about the law but which will benefit your client, do you have the duty to disclose or correct the error?  In the same way, if the contract contains faulty assumptions about material facts, must you disclose those faulty assumptions?  And how do these rules apply when drafting a contract?  This program will provide you with a real world guide to the ethics of negotiating, drafting and reviewing contracts.   The law – when you know a counterparty has made faulty assumptions benefiting your client, must you say? The facts – when a counterparty makes faulty factual assumptions, must you correct? Ethics and rescission – are you ever ethically obligated to rescind or restate a contract? Ethics in negotiations – what’s the line between zealous representation and deception?    Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is of counsel in the Tysons Corners, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, where he advises firm clients on professional responsibility issues and properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  He has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and is a Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.  He has written extensively on attorney-client privilege, ethics and other topics, and has spoken at over 2000 CLE programs throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries.  Through links on his website biography, he has made available to the public his summaries of over 1,600 Virginia and ABA legal ethics opinions, organized by topic; a 300 page summary of his two-volume 1,500 page book on the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine; over 900 weekly email alerts about privilege and work product cases; and materials for 40 ethics programs on numerous topics, totaling over 9,000 pages of analysis.  Mr. Spahn graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and received his J.D. from Yale Law School. Mr. Spahn will serve as the discussion leader of today’s program.

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/1/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE
Course1

Crafting Contracts: Ethical Issues for Drafters

$89.00

Negotiating, drafting and reviewing contracts are processes fraught with ethical issues.  Negotiations sometimes require zealous advocacy, taking maximal positions; other times, they require delicacy and balance. Reviewing and drafting complex contracts is a similar ethical minefield. If you discover that the draft of a contract contains materially incorrect assumptions about the law but which will benefit your client, do you have the duty to disclose or correct the error?  In the same way, if the contract contains faulty assumptions about material facts, must you disclose those faulty assumptions?  And how do these rules apply when drafting a contract?  This program will provide you with a real world guide to the ethics of negotiating, drafting and reviewing contracts.   The law – when you know a counterparty has made faulty assumptions benefiting your client, must you say? The facts – when a counterparty makes faulty factual assumptions, must you correct? Ethics and rescission – are you ever ethically obligated to rescind or restate a contract? Ethics in negotiations – what’s the line between zealous representation and deception?    Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is of counsel in the Tysons Corners, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, where he advises firm clients on professional responsibility issues and properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  He has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and is a Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.  He has written extensively on attorney-client privilege, ethics and other topics, and has spoken at over 2000 CLE programs throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries.  Through links on his website biography, he has made available to the public his summaries of over 1,600 Virginia and ABA legal ethics opinions, organized by topic; a 300 page summary of his two-volume 1,500 page book on the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine; over 900 weekly email alerts about privilege and work product cases; and materials for 40 ethics programs on numerous topics, totaling over 9,000 pages of analysis.  Mr. Spahn graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and received his J.D. from Yale Law School. Mr. Spahn will serve as the discussion leader of today’s program.

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/1/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE
Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Shared Spaces: Ethics of Remote and Virtual Law Offices

$89.00

Technology allows lawyers far more flexibility to practice law than ever before.  Lawyers can work in shared offices, splitting expenses with other small firms or solo practitioners. They can work remotely, from home or virtually anywhere, with basic computer and networking technology. But all these innovations come with ethics traps. These include issues of communications and confidentiality, supervising outsourced worked, multijurisdictional practice, and managing all the technology used to practice law from home.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to ethical issues when working from home or anywhere but a traditional office. Disclosure to clients of virtual nature of law office Duty of competence as a duty to understand technology Electronic communications, confidentiality, and ethical risks in virtual law offices How Web sites and a “virtual” presence implicate multijurisdictional practice issues Outsourcing work to paralegal services, including fee sharing issues Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/2/2025
    Presented
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LIVE REPLAY: Shared Spaces: Ethics of Remote and Virtual Law Offices

$89.00

Technology allows lawyers far more flexibility to practice law than ever before.  Lawyers can work in shared offices, splitting expenses with other small firms or solo practitioners. They can work remotely, from home or virtually anywhere, with basic computer and networking technology. But all these innovations come with ethics traps. These include issues of communications and confidentiality, supervising outsourced worked, multijurisdictional practice, and managing all the technology used to practice law from home.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to ethical issues when working from home or anywhere but a traditional office. Disclosure to clients of virtual nature of law office Duty of competence as a duty to understand technology Electronic communications, confidentiality, and ethical risks in virtual law offices How Web sites and a “virtual” presence implicate multijurisdictional practice issues Outsourcing work to paralegal services, including fee sharing issues Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/2/2025
    Presented
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LIVE REPLAY: 2025 Civil Litigation Ethics: Navigating New Challenges, Part 1

$89.00

This annual ethics update will cover a wide range of ethical developments important to your civil litigation practice.  The program will provide detailed coverage of developments in conflicts of interest in litigation, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege, and drafting and negotiating settlement agreements.  The program will feature its annual tour of the waterfront of technology issues in litigation practice.  Please join for this annual program which will provide you with a lively discussion of ethical developments important to civil litigation practice.    Day 1: Ethics and technology in law practice review Ethics and settlement agreements Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 1   Day 2: Ethics, evidence and witnesses Developments in confidentiality and preserving the attorney-client privilege Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 2   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/8/2025
    Presented
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LIVE REPLAY: 2025 Civil Litigation Ethics: Navigating New Challenges, Part 1

$89.00

This annual ethics update will cover a wide range of ethical developments important to your civil litigation practice.  The program will provide detailed coverage of developments in conflicts of interest in litigation, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege, and drafting and negotiating settlement agreements.  The program will feature its annual tour of the waterfront of technology issues in litigation practice.  Please join for this annual program which will provide you with a lively discussion of ethical developments important to civil litigation practice.    Day 1: Ethics and technology in law practice review Ethics and settlement agreements Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 1   Day 2: Ethics, evidence and witnesses Developments in confidentiality and preserving the attorney-client privilege Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 2   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/8/2025
    Presented
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Course1

LIVE REPLAY: 2025 Civil Litigation Ethics: Navigating New Challenges, Part 2

$89.00

This annual ethics update will cover a wide range of ethical developments important to your civil litigation practice.  The program will provide detailed coverage of developments in conflicts of interest in litigation, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege, and drafting and negotiating settlement agreements.  The program will feature its annual tour of the waterfront of technology issues in litigation practice.  Please join for this annual program which will provide you with a lively discussion of ethical developments important to civil litigation practice.    Day 1: Ethics and technology in law practice review Ethics and settlement agreements Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 1   Day 2: Ethics, evidence and witnesses Developments in confidentiality and preserving the attorney-client privilege Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 2   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/9/2025
    Presented
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LIVE REPLAY: 2025 Civil Litigation Ethics: Navigating New Challenges, Part 2

$89.00

This annual ethics update will cover a wide range of ethical developments important to your civil litigation practice.  The program will provide detailed coverage of developments in conflicts of interest in litigation, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege, and drafting and negotiating settlement agreements.  The program will feature its annual tour of the waterfront of technology issues in litigation practice.  Please join for this annual program which will provide you with a lively discussion of ethical developments important to civil litigation practice.    Day 1: Ethics and technology in law practice review Ethics and settlement agreements Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 1   Day 2: Ethics, evidence and witnesses Developments in confidentiality and preserving the attorney-client privilege Recent developments in conflicts of interest, part 2   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/9/2025
    Presented
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LIVE REPLAY: Co-Councel Ethics in Civil Litigation

$89.00

A settlement in litigation is only as good as the settlement agreement.  The case may have stopped short of trial or stopped in the middle of trial as the parties realized that settlement was the best course of action, but preserving the informal agreement to settle places immense pressure on getting the underlying agreement right – not only settling the present dispute but preserving the settlement as things change over time. Understanding the law governing these agreements and carefully drafting their essential provisions – mutual releases, scope, financial terms, non-disclosure, non-disparagement– are essential to preserving the value of the settlement. This program will provide you with a practical guide to the essential provisions, traps and opportunities of litigation settlement agreements. Framework of law governing settlement agreements Essential provisions of settlement agreements, including traps for the unwary Defining scope of settlement and mutual releases – either to prevent resumption of litigation or leave related litigation untouched Role of non-disclosure and non-disparagement provisions, violations and remedies. Enhancing the enforceability and decreasing the costs of settlement agreements Speaker: Steven B. Malech is partner in the New York City office of Wiggin and Dana, LLP, where he is chair of the firm’s probate litigation practice group.  He is represents beneficiaries, fiduciaries and creditors in disputes involving alleged violations of the Prudent Investor Act and its predecessors, alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, disputed accountings, and will contests. He represents clients in cutting edge probate litigation matters involving trusts and estates with assets in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/10/2025
    Presented
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LIVE REPLAY: Co-Councel Ethics in Civil Litigation

$89.00

A settlement in litigation is only as good as the settlement agreement.  The case may have stopped short of trial or stopped in the middle of trial as the parties realized that settlement was the best course of action, but preserving the informal agreement to settle places immense pressure on getting the underlying agreement right – not only settling the present dispute but preserving the settlement as things change over time. Understanding the law governing these agreements and carefully drafting their essential provisions – mutual releases, scope, financial terms, non-disclosure, non-disparagement– are essential to preserving the value of the settlement. This program will provide you with a practical guide to the essential provisions, traps and opportunities of litigation settlement agreements. Framework of law governing settlement agreements Essential provisions of settlement agreements, including traps for the unwary Defining scope of settlement and mutual releases – either to prevent resumption of litigation or leave related litigation untouched Role of non-disclosure and non-disparagement provisions, violations and remedies. Enhancing the enforceability and decreasing the costs of settlement agreements Speaker: Steven B. Malech is partner in the New York City office of Wiggin and Dana, LLP, where he is chair of the firm’s probate litigation practice group.  He is represents beneficiaries, fiduciaries and creditors in disputes involving alleged violations of the Prudent Investor Act and its predecessors, alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, disputed accountings, and will contests. He represents clients in cutting edge probate litigation matters involving trusts and estates with assets in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/10/2025
    Presented
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How Ethics Rules Apply to Lawyers Outside of Law Practice

$89.00

  Ethics rules are intended primarily to regulate lawyer acts when practicing law. But the rules do not always stop there. Lawyers can be held responsible and disciplined under ethics rules for things they do when acting outside of their practices. Lawyers may be disciplined under ethics rules for criminal conduct, including misdemeanors, entirely unrelated to their lawyerly conduct. They may be also be disciplined for any acts that involve dishonesty, misrepresentation, or any actions prejudicial to the judicial system. This program will provide you with a guide to circumstances in which ethics rules apply to lawyers when they act outside of law practice.   Dishonesty and misrepresentation when a lawyer is acting as a non-lawyer Lawyers as business people – how counter-parties can allege ethical misconduct Self-representation – when lawyers represent themselves in litigation, who can they communicate with? Violations of law, including misdemeanors, as ethics violations Restrictions on lawyers’ ability to market themselves in non-lawyer roles   Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750-page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.    

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/15/2025
    Presented
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How Ethics Rules Apply to Lawyers Outside of Law Practice

$89.00

  Ethics rules are intended primarily to regulate lawyer acts when practicing law. But the rules do not always stop there. Lawyers can be held responsible and disciplined under ethics rules for things they do when acting outside of their practices. Lawyers may be disciplined under ethics rules for criminal conduct, including misdemeanors, entirely unrelated to their lawyerly conduct. They may be also be disciplined for any acts that involve dishonesty, misrepresentation, or any actions prejudicial to the judicial system. This program will provide you with a guide to circumstances in which ethics rules apply to lawyers when they act outside of law practice.   Dishonesty and misrepresentation when a lawyer is acting as a non-lawyer Lawyers as business people – how counter-parties can allege ethical misconduct Self-representation – when lawyers represent themselves in litigation, who can they communicate with? Violations of law, including misdemeanors, as ethics violations Restrictions on lawyers’ ability to market themselves in non-lawyer roles   Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750-page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.    

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/15/2025
    Presented
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Ethics of Identifying Your Client: It's Not Always Easy

$89.00

The first step in every ethics analysis is answering the question, who is your client?  It’s seemingly a very easy question to answer, but it’s not always 20/20 except in hindsight.  Representing multiple parties on the same matter, whether in litigation or on a transaction, may mean you have many clients, some or all with conflicts.   If you’re a private practitioner and you represent an organization, your client may be the entity, its officers from whom you are taking directions, or possibly both. If you’re an in-house attorney, the analysis – and its implications for the attorney-client privilege – becomes even more complex.  This program will provide you with a real world guide to ethics of identifying your client in a variety of settings avoiding conflicts of interest with the client.  Ethics and identifying your client and avoiding conflicts in transactions and litigation Representing businesses entities, nonprofit associations, and the government – client v. person giving directions Identifying clients in trust and estate planning – the testator or the person paying your fees? Special ethical challenges and ethical risks for in-house counsel and attorney-client privilege issues How to untangle clients and conflicts in joint representations – managing conflicts and information flows Best practices in documenting client representation to avoid later challenge   Speakers: Elizabeth Treubert Simon is an ethics attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, where she advises on a wide range of ethics and compliance-related matters to support Akin Gump’s offices worldwide.  Previously, she practiced law in Washington DC and New York, focusing on business and commercial litigation and providing counsel to clients regarding professional ethics and attorney disciplinary procedures.  She is a member of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Discipline and the District of Columbia Legal Ethics Committee.  She writes and speaks extensively on attorney ethics issues.      Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee. 

  • MP3 Download
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/25/2025
    Avail. Until
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LIVE REPLAY: Small Firm Ethics: Tech, Paralegals, Remote & More

$89.00

Solo and small firm practitioners wear many hats. They practice law but also run the office and manage all of its information technology – file storage, email, and Web sites.  They may supervise paralegals or contract attorneys. They also need to be attentive to developing new clients. Each of these and other roles comes with ethical issues and traps.  Email, file storage, and law firm web sites implicate issues of competence, confidentiality, and potentially the attorney-client privilege.  Supervising paralegals or junior attorneys implicates supervisory ethics and conflicts of interest.  Client development also implicates a range of ethics issues.  It’s a lot to manage for a firm of any size, but particularly for smaller firms.This program will provide you with a practical guide to major ethics issues for solo and small firm practitioners.   Ethical issues for small law firms and solo practitioners Technology – storing client files in “the Cloud,” email traps, and remote networks Pooled Resources – shared office/meeting space, shared support staff, shared technology Client Development – web sites and lawyer biographies, email/newsletters, social media, advertising and more Paralegals – training and billing, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege Co-Counsel – ethical responsibilities when practicing with other lawyers   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is of counsel in the Tysons Corners, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, where he advises firm clients on professional responsibility issues and properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  He has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and is a Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.  He has written extensively on attorney-client privilege, ethics and other topics, and has spoken at over 2000 CLE programs throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries.  Through links on his website biography, he has made available to the public his summaries of over 1,600 Virginia and ABA legal ethics opinions, organized by topic; a 300 page summary of his two-volume 1,500 page book on the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine; over 900 weekly email alerts about privilege and work product cases; and materials for 40 ethics programs on numerous topics, totaling over 9,000 pages of analysis.   H. Michael Drumm is the founder and member of Drumm Law, LLC in Denver, Colorado, where he has an extensive franchise, trademark and business transactional practice.  He works with franchisors across industries nationwide helping them draft, file and renew their franchise Disclosure Documents and franchise agreements.  He has a specialty representing craft breweries to help them trademark their brands and protect their intellectual property. He has been repeatedly honored by Franchise Times magazine as a “Legal Eagle” and has been designated by the International Franchise Association as a “Certified Franchise Executive.”  

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/27/2025
    Presented
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Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Small Firm Ethics: Tech, Paralegals, Remote & More

$89.00

Solo and small firm practitioners wear many hats. They practice law but also run the office and manage all of its information technology – file storage, email, and Web sites.  They may supervise paralegals or contract attorneys. They also need to be attentive to developing new clients. Each of these and other roles comes with ethical issues and traps.  Email, file storage, and law firm web sites implicate issues of competence, confidentiality, and potentially the attorney-client privilege.  Supervising paralegals or junior attorneys implicates supervisory ethics and conflicts of interest.  Client development also implicates a range of ethics issues.  It’s a lot to manage for a firm of any size, but particularly for smaller firms.This program will provide you with a practical guide to major ethics issues for solo and small firm practitioners.   Ethical issues for small law firms and solo practitioners Technology – storing client files in “the Cloud,” email traps, and remote networks Pooled Resources – shared office/meeting space, shared support staff, shared technology Client Development – web sites and lawyer biographies, email/newsletters, social media, advertising and more Paralegals – training and billing, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege Co-Counsel – ethical responsibilities when practicing with other lawyers   Speakers: Thomas E. Spahn is of counsel in the Tysons Corners, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, where he advises firm clients on professional responsibility issues and properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  He has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and is a Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.  He has written extensively on attorney-client privilege, ethics and other topics, and has spoken at over 2000 CLE programs throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries.  Through links on his website biography, he has made available to the public his summaries of over 1,600 Virginia and ABA legal ethics opinions, organized by topic; a 300 page summary of his two-volume 1,500 page book on the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine; over 900 weekly email alerts about privilege and work product cases; and materials for 40 ethics programs on numerous topics, totaling over 9,000 pages of analysis.   H. Michael Drumm is the founder and member of Drumm Law, LLC in Denver, Colorado, where he has an extensive franchise, trademark and business transactional practice.  He works with franchisors across industries nationwide helping them draft, file and renew their franchise Disclosure Documents and franchise agreements.  He has a specialty representing craft breweries to help them trademark their brands and protect their intellectual property. He has been repeatedly honored by Franchise Times magazine as a “Legal Eagle” and has been designated by the International Franchise Association as a “Certified Franchise Executive.”  

  • Teleseminar
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 10/27/2025
    Presented
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Course1

LIVE REPLAY: Lawyers and Paralegals: Understanding Ethical Responsibilities

$89.00

Paralegals are often essential for lawyers to successfully practice law.  Paralegals conduct basic legal research, help review and prepare documents, and sometimes screen clients.  Still, they are not lawyers and not directly subject to the ethics rules applicable to lawyers. But the lawyers who supervise their work are responsible for their actions and liable for any improper conduct.  Lawyers are responsible for ensuring that their paralegals’ work conforms to ethics rules. If a paralegal’s actions breach client confidentiality, compromise the attorney-client privilege, or are otherwise improper, the supervising lawyer is ethically responsible for that misconduct.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to how ethics rules make supervising lawyers responsible for the actions of their paralegals.    Conflicts of interest and the attribution of paralegal knowledge about client matters Determining when paralegal research and document preparation becomes the unauthorized practice of law How paralegals must be instructed about client confidentiality – and lawyer consequences on breach Attorney-client privilege implications when clients communicate with paralegals – and risk of inadvertent disclosure Issues when paralegals participate in discovery Fee sharing with paralegals   Speaker: Thomas E. Spahn is of counsel in the Tysons Corners, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, where he advises firm clients on professional responsibility issues and properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  He has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and is a Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.  He has written extensively on attorney-client privilege, ethics and other topics, and has spoken at over 2000 CLE programs throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries.  Through links on his website biography, he has made available to the public his summaries of over 1,600 Virginia and ABA legal ethics opinions, organized by topic; a 300 page summary of his two-volume 1,500 page book on the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine; over 900 weekly email alerts about privilege and work product cases; and materials for 40 ethics programs on numerous topics, totaling over 9,000 pages of analysis.  

  • Audio Webcast
    Format
  • 60
    Minutes
  • 11/3/2025
    Presented
SEE MORE