KS Bar Professional Responsibility and Ethics 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A Kansas attorney represents a corporation. The corporation's CEO privately tells the attorney that the CFO has been embezzling funds. Under KRPC 1.13, the attorney's primary obligation is to:
- Report the CFO to law enforcement immediately
- Keep the information confidential as it was told in confidence
- Report the matter up the corporate ladder to protect the organization (Correct answer)
- Withdraw from representation without explanation
Correct answer: Report the matter up the corporate ladder to protect the organization
KRPC 1.13 requires the attorney whose client is an organization to report wrongdoing by constituents up the corporate hierarchy to protect the organizational client.
Question 2: Under Kansas Supreme Court Rule 226 (KRPC 8.3), a lawyer who knows that another lawyer has violated a Rule of Professional Conduct that raises a substantial question about that lawyer's fitness must:
- Report the violation to the Kansas Disciplinary Administrator (Correct answer)
- Report the violation to opposing counsel in any pending litigation
- Notify the client of the other lawyer's misconduct
- Take no action if the misconduct occurred in a different county
Correct answer: Report the violation to the Kansas Disciplinary Administrator
KRPC 8.3(a) imposes a mandatory duty to report known misconduct that raises a substantial question about another lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness to the Disciplinary Administrator.
Question 3: An attorney negotiating a settlement discovers that opposing counsel made a factual misrepresentation about the date of a key document. Under KRPC 4.1, the attorney must:
- Immediately disclose the error to the court
- Not make false statements of material fact in return (Correct answer)
- Inform opposing counsel's client directly
- Withdraw from the negotiation
Correct answer: Not make false statements of material fact in return
KRPC 4.1 prohibits a lawyer from knowingly making false statements of material fact to a third person, but does not require disclosure of opposing counsel's misrepresentations.
Question 4: A Kansas attorney is disbarred and then applies for reinstatement five years later. Under Kansas Supreme Court Rule 219, the burden of proof for reinstatement is on:
- The Disciplinary Administrator to show the attorney remains unfit
- The attorney to demonstrate fitness by clear and convincing evidence (Correct answer)
- Neither party — reinstatement is automatic after five years
- The attorney to show fitness by a preponderance of the evidence
Correct answer: The attorney to demonstrate fitness by clear and convincing evidence
Under Kansas Rule 219, an attorney seeking reinstatement bears the burden of demonstrating fitness to resume practice by clear and convincing evidence.
Question 5: Under KRPC 1.9, a lawyer who formerly represented Client A in a contract dispute may later represent Client B against Client A in a personal injury case if:
- More than one year has passed since the prior representation ended
- The new matter is not the same or substantially related to the former matter (Correct answer)
- Client A provides written consent
- The former representation was handled by a different partner
Correct answer: The new matter is not the same or substantially related to the former matter
KRPC 1.9 prohibits representation against a former client only in the same or substantially related matter where the interests are materially adverse.
Question 6: A Kansas judge who previously served as a prosecutor in a criminal case is now assigned to the same defendant's post-conviction proceeding. Under KRPC 1.12, the judge should:
- Proceed because judicial immunity protects all prior decisions
- Recuse and not participate in the matter (Correct answer)
- Disclose the prior involvement and allow parties to waive the conflict
- Recuse only if the prosecutor personally argued the case
Correct answer: Recuse and not participate in the matter
KRPC 1.12 prohibits a lawyer-turned-judge from participating in a matter in which the lawyer personally and substantially participated as a public officer or employee.
Question 7: Under KRPC 3.8, a Kansas prosecutor who obtains new credible evidence that a convicted defendant may be innocent must:
- Disclose the evidence to the defense and take remedial action (Correct answer)
- Maintain confidentiality to protect the verdict's finality
- Notify only the sentencing judge
- File the evidence under seal pending further investigation
Correct answer: Disclose the evidence to the defense and take remedial action
KRPC 3.8(g) requires prosecutors who learn of credible new evidence of innocence to promptly disclose it and seek to remedy any resulting wrongful conviction.
KS Bar Professional Responsibility and Ethics 3
A Kansas attorney represents a corporation.
The corporation's CEO privately tells the attorney that the CFO has been embezzling funds.
Under KRPC 1.13, the attorney's primary obligation is to: