Six Ethics Rules Every Young Lawyer Must Know

• Pages: 29-30
• Date: 01 October 2022
• Author: Michael S. LeBoff
• Subject Matter: Civil Law

eing a lawyer is hard . And

the early years may be t he

hardest. You lack contro l

over your day-to-day work,

as assignments are handed

out by senior attorn eys. Young law-

yers are often com peting against

more experience d and conf‌ident law-

yers. Financi ally, younger attorneys

tend to make less than exp erienced

lawyers, yet may be sa ddled with law

school debt, tr ying to purchase a f‌irst

home, or deal ing with other post-law-

school expenses. Yes, being a young

lawyer is hard. Th e ethical rules, how-

ever, do not care. While al l lawyers

must know and ad here to all ethical

rules, this ar ticle highlights six ethical

rules every young l awyer must know.

Rule 1.1: Competence

Model Rule of Professional Conduct

1.1 (and its state law counterparts)

is the quintessential ethical rule. It

applies to young and old lawyers alike.

Short and sweet, Rule 1.1 states:

A lawyer shall provide com-

petent representation to a

client. Competent repre-

sentation requires the legal

knowledge, skill, thorough-

ness and preparation rea-

sonably necessary for the

representation.

Even as younger attorn eys learn

their trade, they a re obligated to act

competently and devote necessary

time to the represent ation. Young

lawyers are ofte n far more competent

than they believe and wi ll develop

conf‌idence over tim e. But young law-

yers must also kn ow their limitations

and avoid getting in over th eir heads.

Young lawyers are often a sked to

take on more than they c an handle.

Young lawyers need to reco gnize when

they are becoming over whelmed to the

point where it ca n adversely aect the

clients. Whe n this happens, young law-

yers need to have the cour age to say no

to certain assig nments or know whom

in their f‌irm to go to for su pport.

Rule 1.4: Communications

As an attorney who f requently handles

legal malpra ctice cases, I f‌ind poor

communicatio n is a leading cause

of malpractice c ases. Model Rule of

Professional Conduct 1.4 governs an

attorney’s ethica l duties to communi-

cate with clients . It reads:

(a) A lawyer shall:

• promptly inform the client

of any decision or circum-

stance with respect to which

the client’s informed consent,

as def‌ined in Rule 1.0(e), is

required by these Rules;

• reasonably consult with the cli-

ent about the means by which

the client’s objectives are to be

accomplished;

• keep the client reasonably

informed about the status of

the matter;

• promptly comply with reason-

able requests for information;

and

• consult with the client about

any relevant limitation on the

lawyer’s conduct when the

lawyer knows that the client

expects assistance not permit-

ted by the Rules of Professional

Conduct or other law.

(b) A lawyer shall explain a matter

to the extent reasonably neces-

sary to permit the client to make

informed decisions regarding the

representation.

There are many things attorneys

should discuss with clients on a regular

basis, such as deadlines, budgets, sig-

nif‌icant case developments, and settle-

ment oers. It is easy to give clients

good news. It is much harder to give

clients bad news. That is part of the

job. It is not easy, but it has to be done.

The duty to communicate also

comes into play when attorneys make

Six Ethics Rules Every Young Lawyer

Must Know

By Michael S. Le Bo, Litigation Section, Co mmittee Cochair

© Getty Image s

a mistake. All attorneys make mis-

takes, and young attorneys make

many. Fortunately, most mistakes are

correctable if you acknowledge the

error and promptly correct it. This

includes coming clean to the client.

Rather than address and f‌ix a mistake,

some attorneys wishfully hope the

mistake will simply go away. When it

does not, expect the malpractice law-

yers to appear.

Rule 3.4: Fairness to Opposing

Party and Counsel

Young lawyers must also remember

there are consequences for incivility

in the practice of law. Model Rule of

Professional Conduct 3.4 states:

A lawyer shall not:

• unlawfully obstruct another

party’s access to evidence or

unlawfully alter, destroy or con-

ceal a document or other mate-

rial having potential evidentiary

value. A lawyer shall not counsel

or assist another person to do

any such act;

• falsify evidence, counsel or

assist a witness to testify

falsely, or oer an inducement

to a witness that is prohibited

by law;

• knowingly disobey an obliga-

tion under the rules of a tribu-

nal, except for an open refusal

based on an assertion that no

valid obligation exists;

• in pretrial procedure, make a

frivolous discovery request or

fail to make reasonably diligent

eort to comply with a legally

proper discovery request by an

opposing party;

• in trial, allude to any matter

that the lawyer does not rea-

sonably believe is relevant or

that will not be supported by

admissible evidence, assert

personal knowledge of facts in

issue except when testifying as

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