SC Lawyer, March 2006, #2. The new rules and you.

• Author: By John Freeman

South Carolina Lawyer

Ethics Columns.

SC Lawyer, March 2006, #2.

The new rules and you

South Carolina LawyerMarch 2006The new rules and youBy John FreemanAs noted in the last issue of the South Carolina Lawyer, the Supreme Court's latest amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct are now effective. They're available on the Web at www.judicial.state.sc.us/courtReg/newrules/NewRules.cfm. Last issue's Ethics Watch focused on changes tied to money matters affecting law practice. A number of additional ethical refinements are discussed in this month's column.

Conflicts of interest

The old guidepost in dealing with waivable conflicts used to be that the client consent "after consultation." The new rules are more specific, introducing two new defined terms found in the new "terminology," Rule, Rule 1.0. These terms are "informed consent" and "confirmed in writing." Conflict waivers now always require informed consent, confirmed in writing.

Informed consent denotes "the agreement by a person to a proposed course of conduct after the lawyer has communicated adequate information...