Welcome to another week! Friday’s questions are here. Today’s answers follow the Honor Roll.
No, the Clemson Tigers did not win Saturday night. To my Notre Dame friends, enjoy Round 1. I look forward December 19!
Honor Roll
- Penny Benelli, Dakin & Benelli
- Andrew Delaney, Martin Delaney & Ricci Law Group
- Erin Gilmore, Ryan Smith & Carbine
- Robert Grundstein, Esq.
- Keith Kasper, McCormick, Fitzpatrick, Kasper & Burchard
- Jeanne Kennedy, JB Kennedy Associates, Blogger’s Mom
- John Leddy, McNeil Leddy & Sheahan
- Pam Loginsky, Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys
- Jack McCullough, Project Director, Mental Health Law Project
- Jeffrey Messina, Bergeron Paradis Fitzpatrick
- Herb Ogden, Esq.
- Jonathan Teller-Elsberg, Hershenson, Scott, Carter & McGee
- Lucia White, CP, Nanci Smith Law
- Thomas Wilkinson, Cozen O’Connor
Answers
Question 1
There’s only one thing that the Rules of Professional Conduct require a lawyer to keep for a definite period following the termination of a representation. What is it?
- A. a client’s confidences: 6 years.
- B. a copy of the client’s file: 7 years.
- C. a copy of the advertisement that led the client to the lawyer: 2 years.
- D. Records of any funds held in trust for the client: 6 years. V.R.Pr.C. 1.15(a)(1).
Question 2
Which word or phrase is associated with a different rule than the others?
- A. knows or reasonably should know that the person misunderstands the lawyer’s role.
- B. shall correct the misunderstanding.
- C. without the consent of the person’s lawyer.
- D. not give any advice, other than the advice to seek counsel.
A, B, and D are associated with V.R.Pr.C. 4.3, the rule that sets out a lawyer’s duties when dealing with an unrepresented person. Thus, C is correct. The phrase appears in V.R.Pr.C. 4.2, the rule that prohibits communication on the subect of the matter with a person that the lawyer knows to be represented in the matter, with the consent of the person’s lawyer or otherwise authorized by law or court order.
Question 3
This is true: there is a rule that prohibits a lawyer from disbursing against a deposit to the trust account until the deposit has cleared and become “collected funds.”
True or false? In Vermont, there are no exceptions to the rule.
False. The exceptions appear in V.R.Pr.C. 1.15(h).
Question 4
Which is most accurate? The Rules of Professional Conduct impose a duty to _______:
- A. Encrypt email.
- B. Encrypt a client’s electronically stored information in transit.
- C. Encrypt a client’s electronically stored information at rest.
- D. Act competently to safeguard client information, including by taking reasonable precautions to prevent against the inadvertent disclosure of or unauthorized access to client information. See, V.R.P.C. 1.1, Comments 16 & 17. Also, this blog post: Is there a duty to encrypt email?
Question 5
I botched it by not asking this last Friday. Anyhow, on October 30, a famous actor turned 75. For five seasons, the actor played one of my favorite ethically challenged lawyers: Arrested Development’s Barry Zuckerkorn. Of course, Zuckerkorn is not to be confused with the acting coach that the same actor plays in Barry and for which he won the 2018 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor.
Readers of an earlier vintage might know the actor better for his Emmy-winning performances on a 1970’s sitcom. Per his Wiki page, on that show, he played “a greaser who became the breakout character.”
Whose 75th birthday did I miss last Friday?
Henry Winkler