1. In the popular media, attorneys are often referred to as "hired guns." We have also all heard the lawyer jokes: "How do you know when a lawyer is lying? His lips are moving." Why do you think there is this negative perception of lawyers and what they do? Do you think it is a fair characterization?

2. Go to the website for the Florida Bar's Professionalism Handbook at https://www.floridabar.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ADA-2017-19-Professionalism-Handbook-FINAL.pdf. Review the pages on "Professional Expectations" (pages 6-14 in the 2017-2019 handbook). How do the "Professional Expectations" differ from the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct? Why are states creating these types of "expectations" in addition to their model rules?

3. The common justification for the provisions restricting an attorney's ability to reveal client confidences is that without such a restriction, clients would be afraid to give their attorneys the complete story. Do you think this is really true? Given the complexities of the legal system and hence the need for an attorney to help people through it, do you think a client would risk not getting adequate representation by not being forthcoming to the attorney?

4. What do you make of the fact that in every jurisdiction the confidentiality rules do not apply when the litigation is between a lawyer and the client and the issue is the attorney's fees?

5. Do you think there are ANY circumstances in which an attorney should be required to reveal a client's planned future activities? Classify each of the following according to whether you think an attorney should be required to report the future activity, allowed to do so at his or her discretion, or prohibited from disclosing it at all. You should also consider whether the test should be a subjective one, based on what the attorney actually thought was likely to happen, or an objective test, based on what a reasonable person would think would happen.

a. A deliberately wrongful act

b. Harm to a financial or property interest

c. Substantial harm to a financial or property interest

d. Any crime

e. A serious violent crime

f. Bodily harm

g. Substantial bodily harm

h. Death

I. Imminent death

6. An attorney was representing a man charged with several murders. In the course of one of their conversations, the client admitted that in addition to the murders with which he was currently charged, he had killed an elderly lady. Currently, an innocent person was serving a life sentence for that murder. What do you think the attorney should do?

7. When an attorney receives information that the opposing side has sent accidentally, that attorney has four options:

a. to refrain from reading the information, and then to contact the opposing attorney and return the document unread;

b. to read the information, contact the opposing attorney, and return the document;

c. to read the information, contact the opposing attorney, and refuse to return the document; or

d. to read the information and use it.

Given our adversarial system and your own sense of justice, which approach do you think is best?

8. Attorney White represents a plaintiff who was injured in an automobile accident. She and her client have decided to settle the case if they can obtain at least $200,000. The settlement talks are set to begin tomorrow, and her strategyis to start by asking for $300,000, hoping to end up at $200,000. As attorney White is reviewing the files in preparation for the settlement talks, she discovers a one-page fax that she had not noticed before. It is from the defendant's insurer and was obviously intended to reach the defendant's attorney. It contains just one line: ''Offer $100,000, but you have authority to settle for up to $500,000.''

a. What should attorney White do?

b. Do you think that it should matter that the fax was intermixed with other documents?

c. What if attorney White was wandering by the fax machine as it came in? As she pulled it out, she saw the covr sheet that contained the following language:

Privileged and ConfidentialAll information transmitted hereby is intended only for the use of the addressee(s) named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient(s), please note that any distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. Anyone who receives this communication in error should notify us immediately by telephone and return the original to us at the above address via the U.S. mail.

The covr sheet showed that the fax was to be sent to the opposing attorney but the fax number was for Ms. White's office. What should she do?

9. How do you think the situation should be handled when the inadvertently sent e-mail is from the client and not the attorney? Recently, a defendant's attorney sent an e-mail to the opposing attorney. He blind-copied his own client. The client responded to the e-mail by hitting the Reply All button, thinking he was replying to his attorney only. Of course, instead the e-mail was sent to the opposing attorney as well. Do you think the opposing attorney should be able to use the contents of the e-mail at trial or should it be excluded as protected by the attorney-client privilege? Why? What should attorneys do to prevent this type of situation from arising in the future?

10. Which of the following situations would involve an unethical conflict of interest?

a. An attorney agrees to represent a friend in a real estate matter. The attorney has done some unrelated legal work for the corporation that employs the friend.

b. An attorney who drafted a will later represents one of the client's children in a dispute over the terms of the will.

c. After defending a client against manslaughter charges related to an automobile accident, the attorney represented the victim's estate in a civil suit against the former client's insurance company.

11. An insurance marketing agency sold estate planning services, including wills and trusts. It did a targeted mailing to prospective clients with information on how to avoid probate. An agent then met with the client, and if successful, got the client to select and pay for an estate plan. The agency employed a panel of attorneys, one of whom would then call the client, to provide legal advice. The panel attorney was paid a flat fee of $225. After discussing various options with the attorney of the 1,306 clients to whom estate plans were sold, only nine chose a less expensive plan. Do you think the panel attorneys provided the clients with independent professional judgment or did the agency commit the unauthorized practice of law?

12. Attorney Janice Brown has an extremely busy practice. A few months ago she began complaining of stress headaches and chest pain. Her paralegal Susan Smith became concerned that if attorney Brown did not slow down her practice, she would become ill. Trying to help, paralegal Smith started screening all of attorney Brown's telephone calls, only telling her about the ones that paralegal Smith felt it was essential for attorney Brown to deal with herself. In her effort to be helpful, what problems may paralegal Smith be creating for her boss?

13. Paralegal Graham misplaces a client's file. By the time it is found, the statute of limitations has run out. The client wants to sue the firm for malpractice. An objective evaluator would say that the client had very little chance of winning his original claim. What problems will the client have in succeeding in a malpractice claim?

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