When was the last time you looked at the rules of professional conduct?

Based on a survey of 41 randomly selected small firm and solo practitioners in the NYC area, their “ever-present concern” was related to bringing in new clients and producing fees, which according to the professor conducting the survey, has a broad influence on the lawyer’s ethical decision-making process. Most surveyed rarely consult the applicable rules of professional conduct; rather, they rely on their own sense of ethics, the norms of their local bar and the expectations and practices of their supervising lawyers. In another survey, research showed that in cases where large verdicts were awarded against law firms, no one consulted with the firm’s loss-prevention partner or in-house counsel. The conclusion of these two studies was that 1) steps should be taken to alleviate the situations where lawyers are overwhelmed with cash flow concerns and caseload; 2) supervising lawyers must be knowledgeable of and comply with the rules of professional conduct and ensure that their legal and non-legal staff do likewise; 3) lawyers should strive to keep their judgment autonomous from that of their supervising partners and have an understanding of the rules; and 4) firms and local bars should provide on-going CLE ethics programming. (The Professional Lawyer, Volume 16, 2005 – Professor Leslie Levin of Univ Connecticut School of Law and Kimberly Kirkland of the Franklin Pierce Law Center)