Ethics

This session will focus on several of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, including 4.1 (Truthfulness to Others), 7.1 (Communications Concerning Lawyer’s Services) and 8.4 (Misconduct). The panelists will address compensation and diversity in U.S. law firms and the elimination of bias; the importance of diversity and inclusion regarding creativity and innovation, the correlation with financial performance, and improving the workplace and client relationships; and ways in which law firms can actively combat unconscious bias and make retention of diverse talent a priority. The Neiman Marcus case will be discussed.

This session addresses when a bankruptcy court will accept jurisdiction and control of pending state court litigation upon the filing of a bankruptcy case by an involved party. Topics include removal, abstention, stay relief and remand, as well as the strategies and risks of filing bankruptcy in hopes of having a state court action removed to bankruptcy court.

Small group breakouts led by the judges of the Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop will focus on different ethical dilemmas facing practitioners.

This panel will share technology tips, best practices internally and with clients. Also included will be ethical considerations of technology in a practice.

You’re leaving your firm, but what do you need to know before you go? This panel will discuss what to do and what not to do to make sure you meet your ethical obligations to your clients and your old firm, while avoiding problems for you and your new firm.

Every business has an obligation to protect and secure confidential information that it may receive from employees, customers, or clients. For lawyers and law firms, this duty is heightened to an ethical obligation to clients. Remote work environments, which are likely to continue post COVID-19, place additional strains on businesses to ensure that appropriate technology and practices are in place to reasonably protect data. This panel will discuss these ethical obligations generally and will provide practical best practices advice on how to continue to adapt and comply while working in a remote environment. The “new norm” extends the boundaries of the work environment which lawyers and law firms will need to continue to assess, invest in and harden appropriately to protect data accordingly. Sponsored by Freeborn & Peters LLP

This panel discussion will delve into a plethora of ethical issues pulled from today’s headlines, including litigation funding, professional compensation, protection and use of material nonpublic information, “connections,” Alix v. McKinsey litigation, and issues created by the pandemic and our remote-work environment.

This panel discussion will delve into a plethora of ethical issues pulled from today’s headlines, including litigation funding, professional compensation, protection and use of material nonpublic information, “connections,” Alix v. McKinsey litigation, and issues created by the pandemic and our remote-work environment.

Sponsored by the ABI's Asset Sales and Ethics and Professional Compensation Committees This webinar will discuss ethical issues professionals may face in asset sales and weave in some real life stories from previous deals our panelists have been involved with. Topics to be addressed include collusion, confidentiality, and fiduciary responsibility.

We often forget that what we say and how we say it can signal more than we intended. One of the primary ways in which "what we say"/"how we say it" creates such signals is with the wording of time entries, whether or not those time entries are ever reviewed by a bankruptcy court. Clients read bills, too, so if one wants to communicate that their work was valuable and efficiently performed, the fable of Goldilocks comes to mind: The time entries need to be "just right." When they're not, clients and courts can draw conclusions that we never intended them to draw. This panel will discuss these issues and more.