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What can we do to protect the Rule of Law? First, we must be united in defending any law firm or lawyers singled out by President Trump’s executive orders. On Sunday, March 9, 2025, President Donald J. Trump announced on Fox News, “We have a lot of law firms we are going after.” This was…

We have a duty to our profession, our clients and the courts to ensure that our legal theories are based on provable facts that support fairness and justice. “May you live in interesting times.” This saying is not really a wish for your entertainment. “Interesting times” are times of struggle, trouble and turmoil. It’s not…

Formal Opinion 512 does an excellent job of analyzing the rules that are implicated by the use of generative AI. Technology is evolving rapidly, and we have had to evolve with it. The days of sitting in a law firm library with a stack of books open to the relevant cases, a stack of Shepard’s…

The country’s faith in these institutions, including our elections and our civil and criminal justice systems has eroded. How far has that erosion of faith gone? Can it be stopped? What is the role of lawyers in protecting the Rule of Law? Every day, we hear that the Rule of Law is under attack. The…

At this time of year, I usually write a column with a list of New Year’s resolutions for best ethical practices in the year to come. (You can see last year’s column packed with good intentions here.) This year, I’m departing from that tradition to predict the future in the field of attorney discipline. However, for those…

In the past, I have often described the Rules of Professional Conduct as the Emily Post Book of Etiquette for lawyers. The rules tell you how to treat clients, adversaries, judges, unrepresented parties and represented parties. The rules guide you to be a polite and efficient litigator and advise you how to begin a new client…

Many solos and small firms charge their clients “nonrefundable” fees, intending to take an advance fee that can be used immediately to pay bills. In Pennsylvania, lawyers have termed these fees “nonrefundable,” and, have placed these funds directly into their operating accounts. In early May, the American Bar Association issued Formal Ethics Opinion 505, in which…

Over the past twenty years, government agencies andregulators have expanded their investigations of corporationsacross a broad spectrum of industries. These investigations ofcorporate wrongdoing have created a booming industry for big firmwhite-collar lawyers representing publicly traded corporations. As acorollary to this boom, small-firm and solo lawyers have taken onthe role of what has become known as…

There are 75,600 lawyers in Pennsylvania. Last year, 3,818 disciplinary complaints were opened, and 132 attorneys were disciplined. Based on these numbers, it is safe to say that most of you reading this column will never hear from the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the investigating and prosecuting arm of the Disciplinary Board. Even fewer of…

It’s inevitable: the end of the year marks a time for reviewing your triumphs and your disappointments. This retrospection often leads to a determination to do better in the coming year. In that spirit I offer some New Year’s resolutions that I hope will be easy to keep and will enhance both your practice and…

On Oct. 24, House Resolution 231 narrowly passed out of the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 13-12. The resolution is titled: “A Concurrent Resolution Encouraging the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to make the investigation and disciplinary process of lawyers more transparent.” This resolution is misguided, unnecessary and is a threat to the legal profession.The…

As part of a month-long campaign exploring lawyer well-being as misconduct prevention, the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is providing interesting insight and strategies to help promote wellness and reduce stress amongst lawyers. They have published 4 articles as part of this campaign:   Why Does the Practice of Law Tend to…

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court https://www.pacourts.us/courts/supreme-court has created a Judicial Ethics Advisory Board. https://www.pacourts.us/news-and-statistics/news/news-detail/1101/supreme-court-of-pennsylvania-announces-membership-of-new-judicial-ethics-advisory-board The Board is populated with a diverse group of judges from across the state and across the levels of the judiciary. Similar to the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Board will provide advisory ethics opinions to Judges (privately) and opine about…

On February 11, 2022, Attorney Elliott James Schuchardt was suspended for two years by order of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, reciprocal to jurisdiction of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. When a lawyer is publicly disciplined in one jurisdiction, the lawyer is required to notify the other jurisdictions in which…

Last year, a Twitter thread addressed women and asked this question: How would your life change if men had a curfew at 8 p.m.? In other words, what would it be like if women could go out at night without the fear of being harassed or assaulted? How would a woman’s life change if she felt…

Recently, the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania appointed a new Board Chair and Board Vice-Chair. Attorney Jerry Lehocky will serve as Board Chair and attorney Dion Rassias as Vice-Chair, effective April 1, 2022. In 2023, Rassias will replace Lehocky as Board Chair and John C. Rafferty will fill the Vice-Chair vacancy. Additionally,…

By Ellen Brotman I often tell my attorney-clients to think of the Rules of Professional Conduct as the Emily Post guide to etiquette for attorneys. The rules provide the dos and don’ts for your conduct in relation to your clients, your adversaries, the courts, nonrepresented parties, your subordinates, your supervisors, your partners and the public.…

By Ellen Brotman It’s the season of gratitude and celebration, gratitude and celebration for getting through all this so far. (You know what “this” is!) Like a lot of you, I am still working remotely. I miss my walk to work, the office kibbitzing, lunches, the in-person bar committee meetings. But the time saved commuting…

By Ellen C. Brotman and Lynn Marietta Nichols The summer is ending, the birds are flying south. Partners and associates are also considering whether it’s time to leave the nest and migrate to greener pastures. Lawyers no longer join law firms to stay until retirement. Government lawyers also move in and out of private practice,…

By Ellen Brotman and Lynn Marietta Nichols Decades ago when the Rules of Professional Conduct were codified in Pennsylvania, we all went to offices in the jurisdiction where we served our clients. We were listed in the Yellow Pages; we read actual law books and we had paper files. The phones stopped ringing after 5 p.m.…

In a recent DBD Opinion suspending a lawyer for one year and one day for numerous Rule violations, the Board also noted that “Respondent deposited Rule 1.15 funds into his operating account. Respondent charged the clients flat fees and accordingly, was required to maintain them in trust until he had earned their fees by performing…

I have been writing this professional conduct column for over 10 years, with and without co-authors, discussing topics from the mundane to the philosophical. This month, my co-author is Lynn Nichols, who is beginning a new practice representing respondents before the Disciplinary Board, and whose experience as a former homicide prosecutor in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s…

On March 16, as we were confronting the reality of a pandemic and its potentially devastating effects, I authored a column for this publication titled “Keep Calm and Carry On: Ethics in a Time of Stress.” The article included some practical advice for counter-acting the effects of the pressures and fears that we would certainly…

On August 10th, 2020, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania suspended Philadelphia attorney M.B. for one year, based on a criminal conviction for “harassment by offensive touching or threat,” a petty disorderly persons offense in New Jersey. M.B. is a lawyer with decades of experience who arranged to meet a young female lawyer to his boat…

Blogs start with the best intentions but often move to the back burner and then fall off the stove altogether! Mine is no different. However, the good news is that I have both a renewed commitment to this Blog and a new assistant to help with the labor (more about my new assistant later –…

The Disciplinary Board has issued protocols describing how it will conduct operations remotely in the COVID-19 era and potentially beyond here. Some provisions for limited in-person participation using existing Disciplinary Board or Court space have been included, to be decided at the discretion of the Presiding Hearing Committee Member and including restrictions such as social…

On June 8, 2020, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court approved adoption of Rule 8.4(g) broadening the definition of misconduct to include the following: g) in the practice of law, by words or conduct, knowingly manifest bias or prejudice, or engage in harassment or discrimination, as those terms are defined in applicable federal, state or local statutes…

Three years ago, after over two decades of practicing in small firms, medium sized firms and big firms, I decided to open a solo practice. A solo practice offers two things critical to work satisfaction: flexibility and autonomy. With that come other attractions: there is no billable hours requirement and a book of business can…

Very Big News from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania was posted on the The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania website this afternoon! Candidates for the postponed July 2020 Bar Exam will now be eligible for a temporary “limited license” permitting them to practice under the “direct and ongoing” supervision of an attorney who has been admitted…

For many of us, our practices take us into the lives of our clients at times of great stress. Whether it is criminal trouble, professional licensing trouble, matrimonial trouble, or business trouble, legal trouble is painful and all-consuming. Guiding clients through these troubled waters to land, at least relatively safely, is one of the many…

Sleepless nights are a criminal defense attorney’s lot in life, full of worry about all the things that can and do go wrong in the high-stakes work of protecting individual liberty. But there is one more thing you should be worried about: your office’s compliance with the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct and Rules of…

Attorneys experience problematic drinking, drug use and mental health distress at a higher rate than other professionals. As the holiday season shifts into high gear, take a moment to check in on your mental and emotional well-being and—while you are at it—check up on your partners and colleagues also. It’s not just a good idea,…

At least once or twice a day, after I press the “send” button, I get a panicky feeling that I’ve made a mistake and there is no going back. Did I send to the right people? Did I attach the right document? Or even worse—did I waive an important privilege? BouSamra v. Excela Health, —A3d No. 5…

On Feb. 8, former Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller was suspended from the practice of law for one year and one day. Miller was found to have committed three separate types of misconduct, all occurring while she was the top law enforcement officer in the county: improper ex parte contact with judges; making…

Let’s start here: the government begins a grand jury investigation of an organization, say a political campaign. Certain campaign employees receive grand jury subpoenas to testify in front of the grand jury. Other employees receive “target letters” from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, informing them that they are targets of a grand jury investigation. Based on…

Conflicts and confidences are the ­ethical tripwires of our profession. What may seem like a reasonable ­assumption about the alignment of parties and the necessity of maintaining confidences at the outset of a case can quickly become a quagmire, especially in the ­context or ­organizational or joint representations. The Cynthia Baldwin matter demonstrates how difficult…

As lawyers watching the spectacle of the investigations surrounding the Trump administration, we get to sit in the good seats. We understand the rules of the game and we can follow the action. But however entertaining this game may be, as lawyers we know that two things matter: facts based on reliable, admissible evidence and…

Despite appearances, it’s spring and Donald Trump and his attorney Michael Cohen have provided us with a brand new crop of ethics issues. Let’s take a look at the issues that have come up and how they would be treated under the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct. First, unless you have been on a complete…

If you are interested in ethics, white collar crime, and the way they overlap, Christmas has come early this year.  Your gift is the array of ethical issues inherent in the latest twist in the investigation into the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia’s interference with our Presidential election; it provides a fascinating hypo for ethics…

On Oct. 21, there was a news report that President Donald Trump would be personally providing a legal defense fund of several hundred thousand dollars for White House staffers and campaign aides in need of legal representation, see https://tinyurl.com/y9vymxx8. Unless you are living under the proverbial rock in the proverbial cave, you know that these staffers and…