Legal Ethics Unmasked: Getting Our Ethics Back on Track After the Pandemic

• Learn about new and looming ethics developments from Jack Marshall, a nationally acclaimed ethicist and a malpractice expert
• Earn 3.0 hours of MCLE Ethics credit

Many commentators have noticed that legal ethics scandals and blunders have proliferated since the 2020 pandemic lockdown. The reasons for this are varied and subject to debate, but it is a nationwide and profession-wide phenomenon that demands attention and repair. Virginia lawyers, to our state’s credit, have maintained professional ethics standards better than most, but the forces that are constantly working to unravel the values and best practices of even the most virtuous practitioner are relentless. They are also constantly evolving.

Legal Ethics Unmasked is a challenging, entirely new three-hour legal ethics seminar that aims to examine these forces as well as recent developments that require the wary lawyer to keep ethics rules firmly in mind.

This interactive course, making use of multi-issue hypotheticals as well as valuable tools of analysis including legal ethics opinions, court opinions, legal history literature, and popular culture, will include these among other current topics and issues:

• An instant tune-up for Virginia lawyers’ ethics problem-solving skills
• A review of recurring common and unresolved legal ethics problems that leave practitioners vulnerable, along with tips for addressing them when they occur
• Representing unethical, unpopular, or unsavory clients
• Confidentiality complications
• The technology traps
• Personal/professional conflicts, and dealing with biases
• The professional-business breach
• The special problems of government and organization lawyers

This program will be taught by Jack Marshall, president and found of ProEthics, Ltd., an ethics training and consulting firm based in Alexandria, Virginia. He has created more than 250 interactive ethics programs for bar associations, law firms, Fortune 500 companies, and non-profit organizations. A member of the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bar Associations, he has served as adjunct professor of legal ethics at the American University School of Law in Washington, D.C. A graduate of Harvard College, where he specialized in American government and leadership, and Georgetown University Law Center, he practiced criminal law in Massachusetts and organization law in the District of Columbia, and led non-profit organizations devoted to education, public policy research, and health. His articles and commentary on topics ranging from leadership to ethics to popular culture have appeared in numerous regional and national periodicals, and his ethics analysis has been featured on a wide variety of talk shows He is also an award-winning stage director, and for 20 years served as the artistic director for The American Century Theater, a professional non-profit theater company dedicated to producing classic American plays.

ATTENDING IN PERSON?

The Bobzien-Gaither Education Center in Richmond/Innsbrook is our new state-of-the-art facility designed with your safety in mind. It features a Centurion air filtration system, which quickly and effectively eliminates viruses and bacteria. Additionally, the facility is thoroughly cleaned before each seminar, and face masks and hand sanitizer will be available.

COVID-19 POLICY FOR LIVE-ON-SITE ATTENDANCE

By attending a live-on-site Virginia CLE^® seminar, you acknowledge the health risks associated with COVID-19 and that you MUST follow all Virginia CLE^® COVID-19 policies. You may NOT attend a live-on-site program if you have tested positive for COVID-19, if you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, or if you are under any self-quarantine orders per CDC guidelines.

Registration Deadlines:

Cancellation Policy: Cancellation/transfer requests will be honored until 5:00 p.m. the day preceding the seminar. You will, however, be charged $60 if you cancel or transfer your registration to a different seminar after the link to the materials has been e-mailed by Virginia CLE^®.

Full refunds or transfers are available up to two days after a webcast in the unlikely event that you experience technical difficulties.

Dietary Restrictions: If you have dietary restrictions and are attending the seminar in person, please email deanna.mcglothlin@vacle.org.

Inclement Weather Policy and Updates.

MCLE Credit Caveat: The MCLE Board measures credits by the time you spend in attendance. If you enter a seminar late or leave it early, or both, you must reflect those adjustments accurately in the credits you report on your credit reporting form. A code will be given at the end of the seminar, which must be written on your MCLE form.

Can’t Attend?

E-mail distance_ed@vacle.org to be notified when/if this program is made available as an online or USB seminar.
E-mail publications@vacle.org to be notified when/if this program’s seminar materials are made available for sale.