Navigate the latest New York rule changes and critical case law updates to safeguard your practice and avoid costly ethical pitfalls.
This comprehensive course guides legal professionals through significant sea changes in the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, particularly the long-awaited modernization regarding lateral hiring and conflicts of interest. Mr. Ross provides a practical analysis of recent judicial decisions and rule amendments that directly impact daily practice, from client retention to courtroom conduct.
The curriculum dives deep into critical updates effective January 2025, including the new ability to use screening to avoid firm disqualification and the ethical parameters for requesting that non-clients refrain from volunteering information. Beyond the rules, this course examines pivotal case law regarding spoliation of evidence, specifically the insufficiency of standard retainer clauses in preserving text messages. Participants will also gain vital insights into the nuances of attorney-client privilege when third parties are involved, the strict requirements for IOLA account maintenance, and the courts growing intolerance for plagiarism in legal briefs.
Key learning outcomes and topics include:
This course is an essential resource for attorneys seeking to protect their licenses, manage their firms efficiently, and advocate for their clients within the bounds of the evolving ethical landscape.
The NYS Academy of Trial Lawyers is the largest statewide trial bar in the US with 5,700+ lawyer and judge members. We are committed to protecting, preserving and enhancing the civil justice system. Our highly acclaimed CLE programming features extraordinary presenters covering the most timely and important topics.
Principal of the Law Offices of Michael S. Ross
Michael S. Ross is the principal of the Law Offices of Michael S. Ross, where he concentrates his practice in attorney ethics. He is a former Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the Southern District of New York and also served as an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County. Mr. Ross has been an Adjunct Professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law since 1980 (where he teaches Fall and Spring Semester courses in Litigation Ethics). Mr. Ross has also simultaneously served as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Brooklyn Law School since 2005 (where he teaches year-round Fall, Spring, and Summer courses in Professional Responsibility). In addition, in his four decades of teaching at Cardozo School of Law, he has taught a variety of ethics, trial practice, and judicial administration courses. Mr. Ross is a frequent lecturer and author on topics involving ethics for such organizations as the Appellate Divisions, First, Second, and Third Judicial Departments, the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, and the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers. Mr. Ross has been a longstanding member of the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Discipline and the New York County Lawyers’ Association's Committee on Professional Discipline. He previously served for a number of terms on the Association of the Bar of the City of New York’s Committee on Professional Discipline, the New York State Bar Association's Special Committee on Procedures for Judicial Discipline, and the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on Lawyer Advertising.
