The Ethics of Practicing Law Across State Lines: Rules and Tips for Firm and In-House Lawyers

  • a Virtual Setting
  • December 27, 2022

The Ethics of Practicing Law Across State Lines: Rules and Tips for Firm and In-House Lawyers

Join us for this Live Interactive Ethics Webinar with a Professor and Recognized Ethics Expert from the University of Texas School of Law!

Tuesday, December 27, 10 am PST, 11 am MST, Noon CST, 1 pm EST

One Hour of Ethics CLE; Pricing: $25 for Members | $50 Nonmembers

Many attorneys, including transactional lawyers representing clients in business deals and contracts, trial attorneys participating in litigation, in-house lawyers representing their companies, and government lawyers representing agencies, work in some capacity across state lines where they are not licensed to practice law. And since the onset of the pandemic, more attorneys practice law remotely from locations where they are not licensed. In this webinar, a professor and notable scholar in the area of professional responsibility will discuss the situations involving legal work in multiple jurisdictions that may constitute the unauthorized practice of law under ethics rules for lawyers. The Model Rules of Professional Conduct relating to the unauthorized practice of law and the related exceptions are often opaque in application, and state rules in this area are not uniform, often leading to different results. Topics to be covered in this ethics webinar include: 
  • New guidance and developments on the unauthorized practice of law due to remote work arrangements that have become more prevalent since the COVID-19 pandemic
  • The ability of transactional counsel to work on deals and contracts outside their licensed jurisdiction
  • Limits on the ability of litigation counsel to participate in litigation outside their licensed jurisdiction
  • Limits on the ability in-house counsel to represent their companies in multiple jurisdictions and the related issue of when in-house counsel are acting in business verses attorney roles
  • The extent to which government agency attorneys are permitted to represent their agencies on matters in different jurisdictions where they are not licensed 

Speaker

   JOHN S. DZIENKOWSKI


JOHN S. DZIENKOWSKI
is the Dean John F. Sutton, Jr. Chair in Lawyering and the Legal Process at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. John teaches and writes in the areas of professional responsibility of lawyers, real property, international energy transactions, and oil and gas taxation. He has delivered almost one hundred ethics presentations to in-house corporate departments, large and small law firms, state bar continuing legal education programs, and law faculties throughout the country. In 2005, John received the Texas Exes Faculty Teaching Award for excellence in teaching. He is a five-term member of the drafting committee of the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. In the area of professional responsibility of lawyers, John has authored leading articles on topics relating to conflicts of interest in lawyering: “Positional Conflicts of Interest” (71 Texas Law Review 457), “Lawyers as Intermediaries” (1992 Illinois Law Review 741), “Multidisciplinary Practice of Law” (69 Fordham Law Review 83) (with Bob Peroni), and “Lawyer Equity Investments in Clients” (81 Texas Law Review 405) (with Bob Peroni). He is the editor of the leading statutory supplement on PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY: STANDARDS, RULES, AND STATUTES and a co-author of a casebook on PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY OF LAWYERS (1988 and 2002) (with John Sutton). In 2005, John joined Ronald Rotunda as a co-author of Legal Ethics: A Lawyer's Deskbook on Professional Responsibility (2005). John is the trustee for the University of Texas School of Law on the Foundation’s Trustee Council. He teaches annually at the Foundation’s Oil and Gas Law Short Course.


Registration