June 27, 2017
Comments Off on No duty to report impaired colleague
VIRGINIA BEACH – Lawyers have no duty under bar ethics rules to report or intervene with an impaired attorney unless the impairment leads to a violation of those rules. But a new Legal Ethics Opinion encourages lawyers to seek guidance ...
Tagged with: Avvo Barbara Anderson Legal Ethics Opinion Michael Robinson Supreme Court of Virginia Virginia State Bar Council
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At the urging of a civil rights lawyer, the Supreme Court of Virginia has added deportation warnings to suggested questions for judges to ask criminal defendants when they plead guilty. The changes came in an Oct. 30 order, effective immediately. ...
Tagged with: Civil Rights Immigration Justice Donald W. Lemons Legal Ethics Opinion Supreme Court of Virginia News
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The Virginia State Bar’s ethics committee has made it official: Lawyers may claim their full flat fees for consumer bankruptcies at the time of filing the bankruptcy petitions. The guidance reflected in a Legal Ethics Opinion now approved by the ...
Tagged with: Bankruptcy Legal Ethics Opinion Virginia State Bar
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“Take the money at filing time” is the advice suggested by a committee of the Virginia State Bar for attorneys charging up-front flat fees for no-asset bankruptcy cases. The VSB Committee on Ethics is requesting comments on a proposed legal ...
Tagged with: Attorneys Fees Bankruptcy Legal Ethics Opinion Virginia State Bar
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Virginia prosecutors may have an ethical duty to avoid plea bargains that could lead to defendants’ deportation under new guidance from the Virginia State Bar, but only in limited circumstances. A final VSB legal ethics opinion arising from so-called Padilla ...
Tagged with: Commonwealth's Attorneys Ethics Immigration Legal Ethics Opinion Virginia State Bar
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A Virginia State Bar panel is still pondering how best to prevent criminal defendants from unwittingly creating immigration problems for themselves when they accept plea offers in misdemeanor cases. A proposal to recognize an ethical duty for prosecutors to guard ...
Tagged with: Ethics Immigration Legal Ethics Opinion Virginia State Bar
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A new effort to ensure that immigrant criminal defendants don’t unwittingly risk deportation would impose an ethical burden on prosecutors. Prosecutors are expected to question whether they should be put in the position of advising defendants about their rights under ...
Tagged with: Criminal Immigration Legal Ethics Opinion Virginia State Bar
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Lawyers will not be in trouble with the Virginia State Bar for ghostwriting pleadings for pro se litigants, but they still have to use care about where those pleadings might be filed, under a new guidance from the bar. Overruling ...
Tagged with: Ethics Legal Ethics Opinion Virginia State Bar
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Virginia State Bar authorities want to rewrite the advisory guidelines for lawyers who ghostwrite pleadings intended to be filed in court by non-lawyer clients. While ghostwriting has been frowned upon by many judges and ethically allowed only with disclosure of ...
Tagged with: Ethics Federal Courts Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. Judge James C. Turk Legal Ethics Opinion Virginia State Bar
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Lawyers looking for signs of progress on criminal discovery reform in Virginia have little to go on now that a Virginia Supreme Court study panel has begun work. Chief Justice Cynthia D. Kinser has admonished the 23 members of a ...
Tagged with: Criminal Discovery Justice Cynthia D. Kinser Legal Ethics Opinion Supreme Court of Virginia News Virginia State Bar
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