NE Bar Professional Responsibility 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Lawyer Adams receives $10,000 from a client as an advance for future legal fees. Where must Adams deposit these funds?
- In Adams's personal bank account
- In the firm's general operating account
- In a client trust (IOLTA) account (Correct answer)
- In a joint account shared with the client
Correct answer: In a client trust (IOLTA) account
Rule 1.15 requires that client funds received in advance for fees be held in a separate trust account until the fees are earned.
Question 2: An attorney represents a corporation. The corporation's CEO instructs the attorney to take an action that the attorney believes will harm the corporation. The attorney's duty of loyalty runs to:
- The CEO as the directing official
- The corporation as the organizational client (Correct answer)
- Both the CEO and the corporation equally
- The shareholders as the ultimate owners
Correct answer: The corporation as the organizational client
Rule 1.13 establishes that when representing an organization, the lawyer's client is the organization itself, not its individual constituents.
Question 3: A lawyer who is personally prejudiced against a protected class of people may still ethically handle a case involving members of that class if:
- She discloses her prejudice to the opposing counsel
- She can provide competent and diligent representation despite the prejudice (Correct answer)
- She associates with co-counsel from the same class
- She obtains a waiver from the client's legal guardian
Correct answer: She can provide competent and diligent representation despite the prejudice
A lawyer's personal views do not automatically disqualify representation so long as the lawyer can competently and diligently represent the client.
Question 4: A prosecutor discovers after conviction that the defendant is actually innocent. What does Rule 3.8 require the prosecutor to do?
- Disclose the evidence only if ordered by the court
- Keep the information confidential to protect the finality of judgments
- Promptly disclose the evidence to the defendant and take remedial action (Correct answer)
- Notify only the supervising prosecutor
Correct answer: Promptly disclose the evidence to the defendant and take remedial action
Rule 3.8(g) requires a prosecutor who knows of new, credible evidence creating reasonable likelihood of wrongful conviction to promptly disclose it to the defendant and take remedial action.
Question 5: Under the imputed disqualification rules, if one lawyer in a firm is disqualified due to a personal conflict, the disqualification generally:
- Applies only to partners, not associates
- Is imputed to all lawyers in the firm (Correct answer)
- Can be waived by the conflicted lawyer's consent alone
- Does not apply if the conflicted lawyer is screened
Correct answer: Is imputed to all lawyers in the firm
Rule 1.10 provides that a conflict of interest personally disqualifying one lawyer generally is imputed to all lawyers in the same firm.
Question 6: A lawyer wants to communicate directly with an opposing party who is represented by counsel about the subject of the representation. This is:
- Permissible if the lawyer is polite and professional
- Prohibited without the consent of the opposing party's lawyer (Correct answer)
- Permissible if the communication is in writing
- Permissible when the other party initiates contact
Correct answer: Prohibited without the consent of the opposing party's lawyer
Rule 4.2 prohibits a lawyer from communicating about the subject of a representation with a person the lawyer knows to be represented, without the consent of that person's lawyer.
Question 7: Which of the following is NOT a required element of a fee agreement that must be in writing under Rule 1.5?
- The basis or rate of the fee
- The scope of the representation
- A contingency fee arrangement and the method of computing it
- The hourly rate for work performed by paralegals (Correct answer)
Correct answer: The hourly rate for work performed by paralegals
Rule 1.5(c) specifically requires contingency fee agreements to be in writing and specify the method of computation; paralegal hourly rates are not separately mandated to be in a written fee agreement.
NE Bar Professional Responsibility 3
Lawyer Adams receives $10,000 from a client as an advance for future legal fees.
Where must Adams deposit these funds?