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Professional Responsibility - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Partnerships with Nonlawyers
        
        A lawyer may not enter into a partnership with a nonlawyer if the business of the partnership will include the practice of law.
      - Direction of Lawyers by Nonclients
        
        If a third party recommends, employs, or pays the lawyer to provide legal services to someone, the lawyer must not allow the third party to direct or regulate the lawyer’s professional judgment in rendering those services.
      - Management or Ownership of Law Firms
        
        If a lawyer practices with or as a professional corporation or other for-profit entity, the ethical rules restrict the role of nonlawyers in the management or ownership of that entity.
- - - - A lawyer must withdraw from representing a client if (1) the representation will result in a violation of the law or the rules of professional conduct, (2) the lawyer’s mental or physical condition materially interferes with his ability to represent the client, or (3) the client terminates the lawyer’s services. A lawyer who is not required to withdraw from representation may nonetheless withdraw in some circumstances.
- - - - Civil Liability
        
        Legal malpractice encompasses malpractice claims based on either (1) professional negligence or (2) breach of fiduciary duty.
        
        a. Professional Negligence
        
        A lawyer is liable for professional negligence (1) to a client or other person to whom the lawyer owes a duty of care, (2) if the lawyer fails to exercise due care toward that person, and (3) that failure is a legal cause of injury, (4) unless the lawyer has a defense.
        
        b. Breach of Fiduciary Duty
        
        A lawyer is liable for breach of fiduciary duty if (1) the lawyer breaches a fiduciary duty to the client, and (2) that failure is a legal cause of the client’s injury, (3) unless the lawyer has a defense.
      - Breach of Contract
        
        A lawyer may be liable for breach of contract under normal contract-law principles in an appropriate case.
      - Vicarious Liability
        
        Under principles of vicarious liability, both a law firm and individual lawyers within the firm may be liable for wrongs committed by other lawyers.
- - - - One party may obtain another party’s ordinary work product only if the first party can establish that it has a substantial need for the materials to prepare its case and cannot obtain their substantial equivalent without undue hardship. One party may obtain another party’s opinion work product only in extraordinary circumstances or if the opposing party has demonstrated a compelling need for its discovery.
- - - - General Rule of Disqualification
        
        In general, and subject to exceptions, a lawyer may not represent a client if that representation would cause a concurrent conflict of interest (i.e., the lawyer is disqualified).
      - Permissible Representation Despite Concurrent Conflict of Interest
        
        Most concurrent conflicts of interest can be overcome if (1) the lawyer reasonably believes that she will be able to represent each affected client competently and diligently, (2) the representation is not prohibited by law, (3) the representation does not involve one client asserting a claim against another client represented by the lawyer in the same litigation or other proceeding, and (4) each affected client gives written informed consent. A client who has given informed consent to a conflict of interest may revoke that consent at any time.
- - - - Prohibited Extrajudicial Statements
        
        A lawyer is prohibited from making extrajudicial statements about the investigation or litigation of a matter in which the lawyer is participating or has participated if the lawyer knows or reasonably should know that the statement will (1) be communicated to the public and (2) have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding. These prohibitions also apply to any lawyer in the same firm or government agency as the restricted lawyer.
      - Permissible Extrajudicial Statements
        
        The MRPC expressly permit several types of extrajudicial statements by a lawyer who is participating or has participated in the adjudication or investigation of a matter (e.g., statements about the claim, offense, or defense involved in the investigation or matter and statements that an investigation of the matter is in progress). Additionally, the MRPC expressly allow a lawyer who is participating or has participated in a criminal case to make additional types of extrajudicial statements, in addition to those allowed in other matters (e.g., statements about an accused person’s identity, residence, occupation, and family status).
      - Special Duties of Prosecutors
        
        The MRPC impose special duties on prosecutors regarding extrajudicial statements. Specifically, a prosecutor must (1) refrain from extrajudicial comments that are likely to heighten public condemnation of the accused, unless those comments serve a legitimate public-information or law-enforcement purpose, and (2) take reasonable care to prevent law-enforcement and other personnel assisting or associated with the prosecutor from making extrajudicial statements that would be prohibited to the prosecutor.
      - Communication to Protect a Client
        
        A lawyer may make a statement or provide information that a reasonable lawyer would believe is necessary to protect a client from the substantial undue prejudicial effect of recent publicity that the lawyer or the client did not initiate.
- - - - The MRPC impose special duties on prosecutors regarding charging decisions, evidentiary decisions, and the treatment of criminal defendants. Specifically, a prosecutor must:
        
        • refrain from prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause;
        
        • make reasonable efforts to ensure that an accused has been advised of the right to and procedures for obtaining counsel and has been given a reasonable opportunity to obtain counsel;
        
        • not seek a waiver of important pretrial rights from an unrepresented person, except one who is appearing pro se with the court’s approval;
        
        • disclose exculpatory evidence before trial and mitigating evidence before sentencing; and
        
        • not subpoena a lawyer to present evidence about a current or former client unless the prosecutor reasonably believes the information is unprivileged, essential to the prosecution, and otherwise unobtainable.
        
        [Model Rules of Prof’l Conduct r. 3.8(a)-(e) (Am. Bar Ass’n 2018).]
    - - The MRPC also impose special duties on prosecutors regarding possible wrongful convictions. If a prosecutor knows of new, credible, and material evidence that creates a reasonable likelihood that a defendant was convicted of a crime that he did not commit, the prosecutor must (1) promptly disclose that evidence to the appropriate authority and (2) if the conviction was obtained in the prosecutor’s own jurisdiction, promptly disclose the evidence to the defendant and start an investigation into whether the defendant was wrongfully convicted. If a prosecutor knows of clear and convincing evidence that establishes the actual wrongful conviction of someone in the prosecutor’s own jurisdiction,