Name: The Ethical Trial Lawyer: Maintaining Ethics During Trial
Uploaded: 2026-03-11T10:00:00-07:00
Description: Trials are fast-paced and stressful. It can become easy to lose sight of ethical duties. This program presents a rapid-fire look at how the ethical rules impact trials and provides practical advice for maintaining ethical balance under the crushing stress of a trial.

Justia Connect Webinars The Ethical Trial Lawyer: Maintaining Ethics During Trial

CLE

Alanna Clair Dentons US LLP

Michael LeBoff Klein & Wilson, LLP

Ronald Minkoff Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC

The Ethical Trial Lawyer Maintaining Ethics During Trial

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Overview AI Webinar Summary

The Ethical Trial Lawyer: Maintaining Ethics During Trial

Trials are fast-paced and stressful. It can become easy to lose sight of ethical duties. This program presents a rapid-fire look at how the ethical rules impact trials and provides practical advice for maintaining ethical balance under the crushing stress of a trial.

Topics covered include:

Legal Ethics Law Practice Trial Skills

Agenda:

Rule 1.1 - Competence

Requirements for trial work
Competence and mental health

Rule 1.4 - Communications

Clients need to make decisions
Professional judgment rule

Rule 1.7 and 1.8 - Conflicts of Interests

Concurrent client conflicts
Former client conflicts
Subpoenaing a client

Rule 1.16 - Declining or Terminating Representation

Mandatory withdrawal vs. permissive withdrawal

Rule 3.1 - Meritorious Claims and Contentions

Claims must not be frivolous

Rule 3.3 - Candor Toward the Tribunal

How to address potential client perjury

Rule 3.4 - Fairness to Opposing Party and Counsel and Rule 3.5 - Impartiality and Decorum of the Tribunal

Rule 3.6 - Trial Publicity

Risk of material prejudice

Rule 3.7 - Lawyer as Witness

Balancing risks and rewards
How can lawyers stay out of the witness chair?

Rule 5.1 - Supervisory Responsibilities

Hypotheticals about duties to supervise others

Rule 5.5 - Unauthorized Practice of Law

Q&A (As Time Permits)

Duration of this webinar: 60 minutes

Originally broadcast: March 11, 2026 10:00 AM PT

Webinar Highlights

This webinar is divided into section summaries, which you can scan for key points and then dive into the sections that interest you the most.

00:00 Introduction

The presentation focuses on ethical issues affecting trial lawyers. The speakers will discuss the ABA Model Rules, acknowledging variations in state-specific ethical rules. The webinar aims to provide insights into maintaining ethical obligations during trials.

05:13 Competence and Communication

The rule of competence requires lawyers to have the necessary legal knowledge, skill, and preparation for representation. Trial lawyers must ensure they have subject matter expertise and understand relevant legal standards and evidence. Mental health is crucial for maintaining competence, since stress and long hours can affect lawyers' ability to serve clients effectively. Rule 1.4 on communication emphasizes providing clients with sufficient information to make informed decisions. Lawyers must consult with clients about achieving their objectives, covering aspects like budget and trial strategy. The professional judgment rule allows lawyers to make judgment calls, with documentation supporting their decisions.

14:23 Conflicts of Interest and Withdrawal

Conflicts of interest arise in various forms, including client-to-client concurrent conflicts and personal interest conflicts. Former client conflicts occur when a lawyer represents someone in a related matter adverse to a former client. Joint representation requires obtaining waivers from clients due to potential conflicts. Rule 1.16 governs mandatory and permissive withdrawal from representation. Withdrawal may be appropriate if a client intends to commit perjury, requiring careful ethical considerations.

32:09 Meritorious Claims

Rule 3.1 emphasizes ensuring claims and contentions have merit, avoiding frivolous proceedings. AI's role in legal research highlights the importance of verifying facts and avoiding reliance on hallucinated cases. Lawyers must continually evaluate the merit of claims throughout the trial process. Avoiding improper purposes in pursuing claims is crucial, requiring lawyers to say no to clients when necessary.

36:24 Candor and Fairness

Candor involves avoiding false statements to tribunals and third parties, requiring correction of any false information. Lawyers must take remedial measures if aware of false evidence, including disclosure to the tribunal. Fairness to opposing parties involves avoiding irrelevant or unsupported statements during trial. Rule 3.4 prohibits asserting personal knowledge of facts unless testifying as a witness.

54:15 Trial Publicity and Lawyer as Witness

Trial publicity requires balancing fair trial rights with free expression, avoiding prejudicial statements. Rule 3.7 prohibits lawyers from being both advocates and witnesses, preventing potential conflicts of interest. The rule aims to maintain equity and balance, avoiding prejudice to clients and opposing parties.

Please note this AI-generated summary provides a general overview of the webinar but may not capture all details, nuances, or the exact words of the speaker. For complete accuracy, please refer to the original webinar recording.

Speakers

Alanna Clair Partner
Dentons US LLP

Alanna Clair is a partner at Dentons US LLP in Washington, DC. She defends law firms and other professionals regarding alleged breaches of professional duties, bar grievances, partnership disputes, and other similar claims. She also advises insurers on bad faith claims and other large losses. She authors a regular article in American Lawyer Media publications on legal ethics and risk avoidance, and is the co-author of District of Columbia Legal Malpractice Law, Georgia Legal Malpractice Law, and The Lawyer’s Handbook. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and the University of Michigan Law School.

Michael LeBoff Partner
Klein & Wilson, LLP

Michael S. LeBoff brings more than 25 years of trial practice to Klein & Wilson, handling and winning high-stakes trials and arbitrations. Michael represents clients of all sizes in a wide variety of business cases, including shareholder, partnership and joint venture disputes, trade secret claims, fraud, breach of contract, business torts, real estate, attorney fee disputes and legal malpractice actions. Read More ›

Ronald Minkoff General Counsel/Partner
Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC

Ronald Minkoff is one of New York State’s leading practitioners in the field of attorney ethics and professional responsibility, representing attorneys in a wide variety of matters including law firm partnership agreements, attorney departures and lateral hires, attorney discipline cases, legal fee disputes and legal malpractice and professional liability cases on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. He also provides ethics opinions and advice to a wide variety of law firm clients. He often serves as an expert witness in legal malpractice lawsuits and attorneys’ fees disputes. Read More ›

Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Credits

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Alabama CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Ethics

Earn Credit Until: December 31, 2026

Alaska CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Ethics

Earn Credit Until: March 10, 2031

California CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Legal Ethics

Earn Credit Until: June 30, 2026

Hawaii CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Ethics

Earn Credit Until: March 10, 2028

Illinois CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Professional Responsibility - Ethics / Civility / Professionalism / Sexual Harassment Prevention

Earn Credit Until: March 11, 2028

Nebraska CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Professional Responsibility

Earn Credit Until: March 11, 2028

New Jersey CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.20 Ethics/Professionalism

Earn Credit Until: March 10, 2027

North Carolina CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Ethics

Earn Credit Until: February 28, 2027

Ohio CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Attorney Professional Conduct

Earn Credit Until: December 31, 2026

Pennsylvania CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Ethics, Professionalism, or Substance Abuse

Earn Credit Until: March 10, 2028

South Carolina CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Legal Ethics/Professional Responsibility

Difficulty: All Levels

Earn Credit Until: December 31, 2026

Texas CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Legal Ethics/Professional Responsibility

Earn Credit Until: February 28, 2027

Utah CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Ethics

Earn Credit Until: December 31, 2026

Vermont CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Ethics

Earn Credit Until: March 11, 2031

This presentation is approved for one hour of Ethics CLE credit in Alabama, one hour of Ethics CLE credit in Alaska, one hour of Legal Ethics CLE credit in California, one hour of Ethics CLE credit in Hawaii, one hour of Professional Responsibility - Ethics / Civility / Professionalism / Sexual Harassment Prevention CLE credit in Illinois, one hour of Professional Responsibility CLE credit in Nebraska, one hour of Ethics CLE credit in North Carolina, one hour of Attorney Professional Conduct CLE credit in Ohio, one hour of Ethics, Professionalism, or Substance Abuse CLE credit in Pennsylvania, one hour of Legal Ethics/Professional Responsibility CLE credit in South Carolina (all levels), one hour of Ethics CLE credit in Utah, and one hour of Ethics CLE credit in Vermont. This program has been approved by the Board on Continuing Legal Education of the Supreme Court of New Jersey for 1.20 hours of total CLE credit. Of these, 1.20 qualify as total hours of credit for Ethics/Professionalism. This course has been approved for Minimum Continuing Legal Education credit by the State Bar of Texas Committee on MCLE in the amount of 1.00 credit hours, of which 1.00 credit hours will apply to Legal Ethics/Professional Responsibility credit.

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