Ethical Duties of Personal Injury Lawyers Beyond Maximizing Recovery

Decisions made before settlement of a personal injury claim can impact plaintiffs’ taxes, financial stability, and eligibility for government benefits. Trial lawyers face evolving ethical duties to spot and address these issues unless they have compliantly “limited” the scope of their engagement. To do so, you need “informed consent” from the client. This presentation will cover the relevant rules and discuss how to limit the scope of your engagements. It will also help you identify when clients can increase the value of their expected recoveries without demanding more money from defendants.

Please join expert faculty for a walk through of these ethical rules and how personal injury lawyers can address them. Issues discussed will include the following:

• Clients’ evolving needs, and their relevance to lawyers’ ethical duties (10 minutes)
• Lawyers’ evolving duties, largely stemming from client needs (10 minutes)
• Malpractice claims and ethical implications (10 minutes)
• ABA model professional conduct rules (15 minutes)
• Safeguards for your practice to comply with ethical duties (15 minutes)

Program Level: Overview

Prerequisites: None

Advanced Preparation: None

Faculty:

Jeremy Babener

Founder, Structured Consulting

Special Tax Counsel, Lane Powell

Joseph A. Di Gangi

ELANA Financial