March 29, 2011

PL 305--Legal Ethics
In class today, Tuesday 3/29 I returned the take-home exam. I distributed one handout, the comments and Reporter's notes to MRPC 7.1. We then discussed the cases and content of Chapter 6 of the text. In addition to the textbook cases, I also went over the old case of Valentine v. Chrestensen 316 U.S. 52 (1942) and the recent case of Milavetz v. U.S., __US__ (2010). We went through the textbook, and compared the Maine Rules with the many places in which the text said that "some states do this, other states do that". We also went through the Yellow Pages and considered the advertising which is allowed in Maine, although other states may not be so tolerant. The assignment for next Tuesday 4/5 is to read Chapter 7 of the text, as well as the MRPC 1.5 and 1.15, with accompanying comments.

March 22, 2011

PL 305--Legal Ethics
In class today, Tuesday 3/22, we first went over the take-home exam that was due today. I plan to return the exams next week. We then discussed three Maine cases regarding disqualification of attorneys and their law firms. We went over Casco Northern Bank v. JBI Associates, 667 A,2d 856 (Me, 1995); Hurley v. Hurley, 2007 ME 65; and Morin v. MEA, 2010 ME 36. We also covered MRPC 1.9. The assignment for next Tuesday, 3/29, is to read Chapter 6 of the text, and also Rules 7.1-7.5 of the MRPC. Also, we decided to meet at 4:00 instead of 4:30.

March 1, 2011

PL 305--Legal Ethics
In class tonight, 3/1, I distributed two handouts: the optional case brief assignment, and the take-home exam. We then went over Ethics Opinion #8, and discussed how it would come out under Maine's new rules. We went over the cases at the end of Chapter 5, comparing them in terms of three variables: whether the paralegal actually acquired information (as opposed to just having access to it); whether the paralegal actually disclosed that information (as opposed to a conclusive or rebuttable presumption that the information was disclosed); and whether the jurisdiction allowed screening of paralegals. The assignment for Tuesday 3/22 is to do the take home exam, which is due at the beginning of class after the break.