Tags: Virginia CLE
“Ethics Tonight – Season 2022” is a series of video vignettes designed to shed light on ethical issues that many attorneys face daily. While the issues raised in the series are never state specific, we will apply the Rules of Professional Conduct of your jurisdiction to the analysis of the issues presented.
In each program, three video vignettes will be shown, and a panel will discuss a series of questions that addresses the issues raised in each vignette. During the panel discussions, attendees will be encouraged to ask questions and share comments.
The intent is to emphasize that attorneys should take time to identify and reflect upon the ethical issues that arise in the day-to-day practice of law on a more frequent basis. Ultimately, the desire is to have attendees leave the program with a greater sensitivity of the many ethical issues that can be in play any day of the week, be better prepared to view these issues as learning opportunities and be more willing to take advantage of these opportunities in order to see that the issues are responsibly addressed and resolved.
Program Summary:
In Ethics Tonight Part Two, “Conflicts in the Metaverse,” the panel will have the opportunity to discuss the meaning of the terms “materially adverse interests” in the context of Rules 1.9 and 1.18 and “direct adversity” as used in Rule 1.7. Once the meaning of each term is explained, the panel will then shift to discussing the ramifications of these two terms on a practicing attorney. This session will then finish up with a deep dive on the topic of joint representation, including setting forth the ethical boundaries, exploring the use of advance waivers, and explaining the ethical issues that can arise when proposing or agreeing to a restriction to practice provision in a settlement offer.
| Ethics Tonight 2022 Part 2 Final Attendee Materials (2.4 MB) | 36 Pages | Available after Purchase |
James M. McCauley is the Ethics Counsel for the Virginia State Bar. He serves as staff liaison to the Virginia State Bar’s Standing Committee on Legal Ethics and manages the staff in the Legal Ethics Department and the Legal Ethics Hotline. Mr. McCauley served on the faculty of the Virginia State Bar’s Mandatory Professionalism Course from 2004-2010. For 15 years Mr. McCauley taught Professional Responsibility at the T.C. Williams School of Law in Richmond, Virginia and served on the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Legal Ethics and Professionalism from 2008-2011. In 2018, Mr. McCauley was elected “Leader of the Year” in the Virginia Lawyers Weekly “Leaders in the Law” awards program. He serves on the Planning Committee for the ABA’s Center for Professional Responsibility Annual Conference and the Lawyer Advertising Committee for the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. Mr. McCauley is a Fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation and American Bar Foundation. From 2014-2020, he served on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program (VJLAP).
Since 1998, Mark Bassingthwaighte, Esq., has been a Risk Manager with ALPS, the nation’s largest direct writer of lawyers’ malpractice insurance. In his tenure with our company, Mr. Bassingthwaighte has conducted over 1200 law firm risk management assessment visits, presented over 600 continuing legal education seminars throughout the United States, and written extensively on risk management, ethics, and technology. Mr. Bassingthwaighte is a member of the State Bar of Montana as well as the American Bar Association where he currently sits on the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility’s Conference Planning Committee. He received his J.D. from Drake University Law School.
Greg St. Ours is a partner at Wharton Aldhizer & Weaver. WAW is a full service commercial and litigation law firm with offices in Harrisonburg and Staunton, Virginia.
Greg’s principal focus is civil litigation. His typical cases are on the defense side of the Bar in the fields of employment, construction, lender liability, antitrust and trade regulation, business torts, defamation, personal injury and wrongful death, and, in keeping with his role today as a panel member, professional malpractice, errors and omissions and insurance defense.
Greg also works with clients on the transaction side including advice and consultation on commercial transactions, contracts, insurance coverage, health care, employment, construction, commercial real estate and development, land use and zoning, eminent domain, finance and acquisitions, franchising and licensing, risk management, and copyright and trademark.
Greg received both his B.A. in Economics and his J.D. from the University of Virginia.
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