Search Results for “Mark Fucile” – Page 2 – NWSidebar

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Risk Management by the Numbers – New ABA Study on Malpractice Claims

Approximately every four years since 1985, the American Bar Association has published a “Profile of Legal Malpractice Claims.” Plaintiffs’ personal injury and family law are the most frequent source of claims, according to the latest profile. Although the Profile does not correlate the severity of claims by practice area, the Profile’s “anecdotal observations” section suggests that business and commercial law have traditionally been higher-risk areas on this score.

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Court of Appeals Issues Rare Decision on Revoking Consent to Conflict Waiver

Earlier this year, Division I of the Washington Court of Appeals issued a decision touching on an area of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) that is rarely litigated: revoking consent to conflict waivers. The decision was “unpublished” under General Rule 14.1, but is instructive nonetheless—both for its illumination of this comparatively “unplumbed” area of conflicts law and as an illustration of the result.

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Fine Print: Federal District Court Distinguishes Disciplinary and Malpractice Defense in Coverage Decision

Professional liability policies for lawyers and law firms often distinguish between disciplinary and malpractice defense. Some don’t cover disciplinary defense or, if they do, include a much lower coverage limit. A recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington underscored the practical impact of the distinction between disciplinary and malpractice coverage.

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State Supreme Court Revisits Elected Prosecutor Conflicts

Ethics Guru Mark Fucile examines a recent Supreme Court ruling that an elected prosecutor’s entire office is disqualified to litigate in cases the prosecutor tried prior to election.

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ABA Issues New Ethics Opinion on Remote Working

The pandemic has forced many lawyers to work remotely. In some instances, that simply means working out of a home office in the same city that the lawyer’s firm is based. In others, however, lawyers have been working from second homes in states in which they are not licensed to practice law. The American Bar Association (ABA) recently addressed this latter aspect of remote work in a new ethics opinion—Formal Opinion 495, issued on Dec. 16.

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NWSidebar’s Top 10 Most-Read Blogs in 2021

It’s hard to believe that 2021 is already over. After a painfully slow 2020 during which the entire world was coming to grips with a (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, things almost began to feel normal this past year, and the weeks and months seemed to fly by. We started going out. We dared to think about things other than the virus. We gave our streaming services a much-needed break. The virus remained an ever-present part of life in 2021, but nowhere near what it was in the year before. You can see that reflected in the variety of topics covered on NWSidebar this year. Although the pandemic has remained a challenge for lawyers and non-lawyers alike, the blogs over the past year began to stretch beyond the limitations of COVID life and back into some semblance of normalcy. As has become our annual tradition, take a look back at 2021 to see the 10 most-read blogs of the year

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Heading South: Oregon Allows Temporary Practice Pending Reciprocal Admission

Oregon recently addressed a very practical problem confronting lawyers who are relocating there: can they practice while their reciprocal admission applications are pending? The Oregon Supreme Court in In re Harris, answered “yes”—as long as the lawyer fits within one of the “safe harbors” authorizing temporary practice under Oregon’s version of ABA Model Rule 5.5.

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The Top 10 Most Popular NWSidebar Articles in 2019

As the hub for voices of Washington’s legal community, the content on this blog is as varied as WSBA members themselves.

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Strange New Trip: The Emerging World of Psychedelic Law and Decriminalization

After substances like LSD (acid), MDMA (ecstasy), and notably psilocybin (magic mushrooms) were classified as federally prohibited Schedule 1 drugs, a new wave of research into their therapeutic potential is growing, state and local governments are decriminalizing their use, and new areas of law are opening up. “Now there’s what’s referred to as a psychedelic renaissance …,” said Kathryn Tucker, special counsel at Emerge Law Group. “It’s just an incredible surge of interest.”

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Statewide Electronic Filing is on the Way to Washington Courts

The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) will soon begin rolling out a new electronic system for case management and electronic filing (e-filing) for Washington’s district and municipal courts and probation offices. The AOC is trying to spread the word about the e-filing component of its Courts of Limited Jurisdiction Case Management System (CLJ-CMS) project, also known as Odyssey File & Serve (OFS).

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Supreme Court Applies Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege to ‘Functional Employees’

The Washington Supreme Court recently applied the corporate attorney-client privilege to “functional employees” in Hermanson v. Multicare Health Systems, Inc. In the privilege context, “functional employees” are not directly employed by a corporation but are sufficiently integrated into a company’s operations that some federal courts—including the 9th Circuit and Washington’s federal district courts—had concluded that they fall within the corporation’s attorney-client privilege.

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Washington Supreme Court Holds Unauthorized Practice of Law Strict Liability Offense

When lawyers hear the phrase “unauthorized practice,” they usually think of RPC 5.5(a): “A lawyer shall not practice law in a jurisdiction in violation of the regulation of the legal profession in that jurisdiction, or assist another in doing so.” In addition to the professional rule, however, the unauthorized practice of law is also a crime.

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Farewells and Celebrations in the Latest NWLawyer

The WSBA literally would not function without the hundreds upon hundreds of dedicated volunteers who often work behind the scenes to keep the legal profession on a path of progression. Serving selflessly in everything from committees to boards to sections, WSBA volunteers are the propulsive force behind issues that touch the lives of lawyers, LPOs, […]

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Leading Criminal Justice Reform with LEAD in the November NWLawyer

In the November issue of NWLawyer we meet Lisa Daugaard, a 2019 MacArthur fellow who is reforming the criminal justice system. And we take a trip around the world in nine ways with WSBA members sharing their experiences practicing law from the Czech Republic to Nigeria and beyond.

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Idaho Supreme Court Allows Fee Disgorgement for Breach of Fiduciary Duty

In a case of first impression, the Idaho Supreme Court recently held that fee disgorgement is available as a remedy against a lawyer for breach of fiduciary duty even if there are no resulting damages.

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Plein Redux: Supreme Court Reverses Court of Appeals on Disqualification for Former Client Conflict

Last fall, Division I of the Washington Court of Appeals in Plein v. USAA Casualty Insurance Co. articulated a new—and quite broad—standard on disqualification for former client conflicts. On May 21, the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals in a unanimous opinion that the law firm should not have been disqualified.