Credit Available - See Credits tab below.
Total Credits: 3 Virginia
Please note: This is a recording of the 2018 VA CLE Tour program. If you attended this program live you cannot get credit for the on-demand version as well.
“The Hotline” is an educational seminar designed to shed light on ethical issues that many attorneys face daily.
Program Summary:
In Vignette One, we’ll listen in to the first segment of a talk show called “The Hotline.” Topics raised in this vignette include the duties that arise when a lawyer acts as an escrow agent, the duties that arise when a lawyer holds settlement funds, rogue clients, and the tension between a lawyer’s duty to maintain client confidences and a court’s need for sufficient information upon which to rule on a motion to withdraw.
In Vignette Two, we’ll watch the second segment of “The Hotline” talk show. Topics presented in this vignette include the obligations that arise upon discovery that a firm attorney has been fraudulently billing clients, the circumstances RPC 1.6’s phrase “to prevent reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm” is intended to cover, the application of the RPCs to artificial intelligence, the use of text message advertising services, and using text messaging as a client communication tool.
Finally, in Vignette Three, we’ll watch the final segment of “The Hotline.” In this segment the topics raised include exploring the “generally known” exception set forth in RPC 1.9, conflict issues that arise in multiple client representation, responding to a malpractice claim, and ransomware prevention.
Although the vignettes may be presented as taking place outside your jurisdiction, we will apply the Rules of Professional Conduct of your jurisdiction to the analysis of the issues presented.
This program is designed to be somewhat interactive.After viewing a series of video vignettes, a panel will discuss a series of questions that address 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 reflect upon ethical issues and what it means to be a professional 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.
A Sampling of Attendee Takeaways:
| General Credits | Ethics Credits |
| 3 | 3 |
| Hotline Attendee Materials (2 MB) | 86 Pages | Available after Purchase |
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.
Seth has practiced law in both the public and private sectors for over 35 years. He has held leadership positions in the Alexandria Bar Association, and lectures frequently on legal ethics and professional regulation to bar associations and other groups. Seth is an adjunct professor at the Washington College of Law at American University, having taught a course for nine years entitled Ethics for Trial Lawyers. He also volunteers to judge law student competitions.
Between February of 2000 and April of 2012, Seth was a prosecutor for the Virginia State Bar. He is now assistant ethics counsel for the Bar, giving Ethics Hotline advice to attorneys, presenting at seminars, and assisting the Bar’s Standing Committee on Legal Ethics in the generation of legal ethics opinions.
Seth earned his bachelor’s degree at Boston University, and is a graduate of the Washington College of Law at American University, where he was awarded a Juris Doctor degree. Seth is an active member of the Virginia State Bar and an inactive member of the District of Columbia bar.
Paul Georgiadis has over 30 years of private and government practice in defending and prosecuting attorneys. From his Richmond, Virginia office, he now represents attorneys throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia in professional liability issues including bar complaint defense, ethics advice, law office management, and law office audits.
His practice includes advising attorneys in New Mexico through the Ethics and Risk Management Hotline of the State Bar of New Mexico.
Georgiadis also provides law office audits for members of the Virginia State Bar, Hawaii State Bar, and the State Bar of New Mexico proactively, as imposed in discipline terms, and for LPL insurability.
From 2000-2015, he served as Assistant Bar Counsel for the Virginia State Bar, prosecuting hundreds of bar complaints before bar tribunals and circuit courts of the Commonwealth.
From 1995-2000, he was selected by the State Bars of Virginia, Arizona, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Tennessee to serve as Risk Manager to their members.
He is a past-president of the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. American Inn of Court and a past president of the Henrico County Bar Association. He is a past-president of the Virginia Boat Club and since 2012, has coached the VCU Novice Men’s Crew Team.
He is a graduate of Georgetown University and the T.C. Williams School of Law, University of Richmond.
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