This is the second of a two-part annotated table of contents of columns published during the second five years of Ethics Curbstone’s ten-year run. Together with last month’s column and A Five Year Retrospective, Vol. 54, No. 1 Res Gestae 15 (July-August 2010), this is a comprehensive review of all Ethics Curbstone columns to date. [...]
Ethics Curbstone first rolled out in the July-August 2005 issue of Res Gestae. It’s been ten years. Thanks for reading. An Introductory Note I continue to hear from readers. It is remains gratifying to know that they often agree with me, but I still love hearing from readers who disagree and tell me why. I [...]
Some recent developments on the national stage provide common sense insight into two perennial issues faced by lawyers: lawyer advertising and what file materials lawyers must provide to clients when the lawyer stops representing the client. I have written on both topics before, but there is always more to say—especially when it’s good stuff that [...]
Almost a year ago I wrote an overview column on conflicts of interest and included a promise of more detailed installments to come. In the meantime my attention was diverted by some shiny objects of an ethical sort, but I would now like to return to an exploration of conflicts of interest—this time looking in [...]
A Parable In a small Indiana town, up until a few years ago, the residents felt safe. They trusted one another. They left their homes unlocked, when they were gone; often, even when they were away on vacation. One day people began to discover that things were missing from their homes. At first it was [...]
By now, it is old news that Chief Justice Randall Shepard is retiring from the Supreme Court in March of 2012. This will be a time of many expressions of appreciation and admiration for his leadership as Chief Justice, which I join. I had the privilege of serving as Executive Secretary of the Indiana Supreme [...]
I almost stopped writing this column mid-stream because the topic is so difficult and the resolution so unclear—and probably controversial. I decided to write it anyway in hopes that it will generate debate within the bar about the important topic of lawyer duties to report child abuse. This is a good occasion to recall the [...]
It’s going to be one of those bad days. You can tell because you show up at the office to find an envelope in the day’s mail with one of those sickening royal blue return addresses from the Disciplinary Commission with the ominous disclaimer “personal and confidential.” This can’t be good. Sure enough, the envelope [...]
The Indiana Supreme Court recently decided two lawyer discipline cases involving attorney fees that should be of great interest to lawyers. Changing the Rules of the Game One of the cases, decided by a brief order and not a per curiam opinion, deals with renegotiation of fee agreements. Matter of Hammerle, 2011 WL 4089970 (Ind. [...]
If you have been alive and sentient over the last several months, you were undoubtedly following the story of the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, known as DSK, on an airplane destined for Paris and subsequent charge of sexually assaulting Nafissatou Diallo, a hotel housekeeper, at the Sofitel Hotel in New York City. DSK was the [...]