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Bar Counsel Informal Advisory Ethics Notes
The following Bar Counsel notes were previously published in Board email updates to active members of the Maine Bar.
2017 | 2016 |2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 10/1/2018 | Client Confidentiality Issues |
| 10/1/2018 | Court/Candor Toward Tribunal |
| 7/1/2018 | Confidentiality |
| 7/1/2018 | Fee Issues |
| 5/1/2018 | Contact with Opposing Counsel |
| 5/1/2018 | Fee Issues |
| 3/5/2018 | Fee Issues |
| 3/5/2018 | Client Communication Issues |
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 11/29/2017 | Conflicts of Interest |
| 11/29/2017 | Client Confidentiality |
| 8/7/2017 | Contact with Opposing Counsel |
| 8/7/2017 | Termination/Withdrawal from Representation |
| 5/25/2017 | Reciprocal Discipline |
| 5/25/2017 | Practice Management Issues |
| 3/25/2017 | Fee and Confidentiality Issues |
| 3/25/2017 | Conflict of Interest |
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 12/6/2016 | Reporting Professional Misconduct |
| 12/6/2016 | Conflict of Interest |
| 6/17/2016 | Advertising |
| 6/17/2016 | Unauthorized Practice of Law Issues |
| 5/10/2016 | Advertising |
| 5/10/2016 | Inadvertent Disclosure |
| 2/17/2016 | Client Confidentiality |
| 2/16/2016 | Withdrawal from Representation |
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 10/9/2015 | Conflict of Interest |
| 10/9/2015 | Prospective Clients |
| 8/12/2015 | Dealing with Unrepresented Person |
| 8/12/2015 | Multiple Representation |
| 4/20/2015 | Safekeeping Property - Former Client's File |
| 4/20/2015 | Commencement and Withdrawal from Representation |
| 4/3/2015 | Conflict of Interest |
| 2/21/2015 | Confidences of/duties to Prospective Clients |
| 2/21/2015 | Confidentiality of Bar Complaint Matters |
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 12/1/2014 | Exception to Client Confidentiality |
| 12/1/2014 | Incapacitated Client/Scope of Representation |
| 10/1/2014 | Representation After Serving as a Neutral |
| 8/1/2014 | Duties to Former Firm Clients |
| 8/1/2014 | Confidential response to Grievance Complaint filed by non-client |
| 6/1/2014 | Internet Research of Jurors |
| 6/1/2014 | Non-prejudicial withdrawal from Representation |
| 4/9/2014 | Conflict of Interests |
| 4/9/2014 | Dealing with unrepresented persons |
| 2/3/2014 | Candor Toward the Tribunal |
| 2/3/2014 | Conflicts |
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 12/1/2013 | Duty to Report Attorney Misconduct |
| 12/1/2013 | Termination of Representation |
| 10/1/2013 | Duties to Former Clients |
| 10/1/2013 | Conflict of Interest: Current Clients |
| 7/30/2013 | Retention of Earned Attorney Fees |
| 7/30/2013 | Communication with Person Represented by Counsel |
| 6/18/2013 | Client Confidentiality Issues |
| 6/18/2013 | Using Bar Counsel's Ethics Helpline |
| 4/9/2013 | Client Confidentiality Issues |
| 4/9/2013 | Grievance and Discipline Process |
| 2/11/2013 | Communications with Person Represented by Counsel |
| 2/11/2013 | Confidentiality of Information |
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 12/12/2012 | Successive Representation |
| 12/12/2012 | Notice Regarding Fee Arbitration |
| 10/5/2012 | Unauthorized Practice of Law |
| 10/5/2012 | Conflict of Interest |
| 8/7/2012 | Disclosure of Deceased Client Info |
| 8/7/2012 | Screening of Non-lawyer Staff |
| 6/20/2012 | Communication with Person Represented by Counsel |
| 6/20/2012 | Termination of Representation |
| 4/18/2012 | Former Client Conflicts |
| 4/18/2012 | Communications with Person Represented by Counsel |
| 2/10/2012 | Conflict of Interest: Financial Assistance to a Client in Connection with Pending or Contemplated Litigation |
| 2/10/2012 | Confidentiality of Information/Candor Toward the Tribunal |
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 12/2/2011 | Confidentiality of Information/Candor Toward the Tribunal |
| 6/3/2011 | Client Confidentiality |
| 6/3/2011 | Conflict of Interest |
| 4/8/2011 | Reporting Professional Misconduct |
| 4/8/2011 | Prospective Clients |
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 12/3/2010 | Confilict of Interest |
| 12/3/2010 | Candor Toward a Tribunal |
| 10/8/2010 | Duties to Prospective Client |
| 8/1/2010 | Confidentiality of Information: Release of Client's File |
| 8/1/2010 | Candor Toward a Tribunal |
| 6/1/2010 | Conflict of Interest: Current Clients |
| 6/1/2010 | Confidentiality of Information |
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 9/1/2009 | Confidentiality of Information: Former Clients File |
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 10/22/2008 | Refunding "Unearned Fees" |
| 10/22/2008 | Conflict of Interest/Representation of a Minor |
| 8/20/2008 | Protecting Interest of at Risk Client |
| 8/20/2008 | Conflict of Interest/Lawyer as Witness |
| 6/26/2008 | Confidentiality. |
| 6/26/2008 | Communicating with adverse party. |
| 6/26/2008 | Tape recording conversation. |
| 3/25/2008 | Communicating with adverse party. |
| 2/25/2008 | Fee splitting/referral fees. |
| 2/25/2008 | Conflict-when lawyer may be called as a witness/lawyer's own interest |
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 11/20/2007 | Retention of files |
| 11/20/2007 | Restriction on right to practice - non compete. |
| 4/19/2007 | Termination/withdrawal of representation |
| 4/19/2007 | Fee splitting/referral fees |
| 2/5/2007 | Adverse conduct/deceit |
| 2/5/2007 | Conflict/successive representative |
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 11/6/2006 | Client confidences/confidentiality |
| 11/6/2006 | Conflicts/screening of support staff |
| 11/6/2006 | Client confidences/confidentiality |
| 6/27/2006 | Communicating with adverse party/statutory service |
| 6/27/2006 | Conflicts/office sharing |
| 2/2/2006 | Termination/withdrawal - failure to pay fee |
| 2/2/2006 | Conflicts/former clients confidences |
| 2/2/2006 | Advertising fields of practice |
| Date | Headline |
|---|---|
| 5/31/2005 | Legal Assistant Confronted with Inadvertent Disclosure |
| 5/31/2005 | Client shows signs of diminished capacity |
| 5/31/2005 | Client provides false testimony on cross |
| 4/22/2005 | Contact with witnesses |
| 4/22/2005 | Client confidences/incapacity |
| 4/22/2005 | Conflicts/prospective clients |
| 4/22/2005 | Conflicts/prospective clients |
| 2/1/2005 | Duty to Report Another Lawyer |
| 2/1/2005 | Returning "the file" - copying |
*Disclaimer: The Informal Ethics Advisory Notes from Bar Counsel are intended as outreach by the office of Bar Counsel for the use and benefit of the Maine bar. These scenarios are drawn from actual telephone calls received by the attorneys in the office of Bar Counsel in the course of providing informal advice on the Code of Professional Responsibility, known as Bar Counsel's "Ethics Hotline." The particular advice in each case is limited with reference to the particular factual situation related by the inquiring attorney who must be inquiring about his or her own conduct or the conduct of a member of his or her firm. We do not provide any advice to one attorney about the conduct of another attorney unless they are members of the same law firm. In the telephone opinions, we usually explore and discuss additional factual variables. However, I have attempted to pare down these factual scenarios to make the email newsletter more readable and useful in a general sense. Obviously, that creates the risk that slight variations on the facts, to a learned reader, may give rise to a different analysis and conclusion.
