Report Your Own Malpractice?

From Practice Blawg:

Ethical Duty to Report Your Own Malpractice – A Proposed Opinion

The Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board has proposed the adoption of  Opinion No. 21[opens as PDF], which deals with a lawyer’s duty to report his or herown malpractice to the lawyer’s client. The proposed opinion states:

A lawyer who knows that the lawyer’sconduct could reasonably be expected to be the basis for a malpracticeclaim by a current client should consult with the client about thelawyer’s conduct and the potential claim. In consulting with theclient, the lawyer should disclose any significant risk that continuedrepresentation of the client will be materially limited by the personalinterest of the lawyer and should advise the client to seek independentlegal advice about the potential claim and the lawyer’s continuedrepresentation. When there is a conflict of interest, the lawyer shouldobtain the client’s informed consent, confirmed in writing, regardingthe lawyer’s continued representation, if the continued representationis not otherwise prohibited.

Comments to the proposed opinion are included in the proposedopinion. The LPRB is accepting public comment until August 31, withcomments to be made in writing to:

Siama Y. Chaudhary
1500 Landmark Towers
345 St. Peter Street
St. Paul, MN 55102

There does not appear to be a way to e-mail or post comments, though we have added this as a topic for discussion on mypractice, the MSBA’s professional networking site.

(Mike Frisch)