Richmond on Ethical Duties of Law Firm Associates

Posted by Alan Childress
Douglas Richmond (Sr. VP of the insurer Aon Risk Services-Professional Services Group) has posted to SSRN the article, “Professional Responsibilities of Law Firm Associates.”  It is also in Brandeis Law Journal, vol. 45, p. 199, 2007.  Here is his abstract:

Most American lawyers practice in lawfirms.  Although firms are variously structured, the lawyers whopractice in them can generally be divided between partners andassociates. While associates and partners share professional duties andproblems, in several key respects associates’ professionalresponsibility concerns and problems differ significantly frompartners’. This article has its genesis in those differences and thecommon perception that associates are increasingly pressured to actunethically.

The article begins by examining law firm culture becauseit is culture more than ethics rules or other professional standardsthat influences associates’ behavior. The article then discussesassociates in the professional responsibility framework, focusing onModel Rule 5.2 and section 12 of the Restatement (Third) of the LawGoverning Lawyers, before examining professsional responsibilitysubjects of special importance to associates: the duties of competence,diligence, and confidentiality; overbilling; ethics issues associatedwith legal writing, including the duty of candor to the tribunal,plagiarism, and the duty to diclose directly adverse authority in thecontrolling jurisdiction; the duty to report serious misconduct byother lawyers, focusing on difficulties associated with reportingmisconduct by partners; and associates’ duty of loyalty to their firms.

The article concludes with a call for further research into associates’professional responsibility problems by groups positioned to conductempirical studies of the subject, such as the ABA or NALP.