Author: Legalethicstoday.com

Ain’t Nothing But A Family Thing.

Politics are everywhere and the Texas State Bar is not immune.

Membership in the Texas State Bar has been statutorily mandated since 1939 for those practicing law in Texas, and the Bar now boasts the second largest number of active attorney members in the country.

If you are a member of the Texas State Bar you probably received an email before Thanksgiving containing the incoming (2018) State Bar President’s message. I did. You may have noticed the explanation at the top as to why this message did not come from the State Bar of Texas. Apparently, the Bar refused to send the incoming president’s message to its members and so in order to communicate with us, the president-elect had his message sent by an independent group called the “Texas Lawyers for Reform.” This group claims to support bar reform in Texas and also asked in that email for a donation to support their cause.

The Emails are going to keep coming. (more…)

Keeping Client Confidences. It’s a thing.

There they were, the President’s lawyers, sitting outside at a café having lunch and engaging in a substantive discussion about the President’s current legal problems.

What could go wrong?

Sunday’s Headline in The New York Times about internal squabbles between the President’s lawyers resulted not from an interview or leaked information—but as a result of the lawyers discussing the President’s legal matters over lunch at a sidewalk café, a discussion loud enough for a nearby reporter and certainly the wait staff and many others to hear.

Was it a violation against the Rule against disclosing “confidential information”? (more…)