The following points are intended to facilitate a discussion about appropriate ways (including ethical concerns and protocol) for dealing with others on behalf of your client.
- Discuss a lawyer?s ethical obligation to be honest with other parties and the court in all dealings with them.
- Discuss the importance of dignified, honest, and considerate transactions.
- Discuss the importance of reputation and how a lawyer?s conduct dealing with others in a case is pivotal to his or her reputation.
- Share ?best practices? with the new lawyer on how to appropriately deal with others on behalf of your client.
- Share with the new lawyer stories of attorneys who have ultimately harmed their client because of their incivility and lack of consideration in dealing with opposing counsel, the judge or the jury, or because they failed to properly and fully represent their clients.
- Share with the new lawyer stories of attorneys who have encountered ethical difficulties due to a failure to adequately communicate with their clients, colleagues within their organization, opposing counsel, and the court.