Practice Makes Perfect: Reasonable Accommodation of Law Students with Disabilities in Clinical Placements

Clinical legal education provides exceptional benefits to law students.\u27 It is one of the best ways that law students can begin to: (1) identify which type of law they wish to practice, (2) make connections in the legal field to foster future employment opportunities, (3) develop mentoring relationships, (4) learn many important skills, and (5) learn professional responsibility and competence. These benefits directly translate into increased opportunities for successful employment upon graduation

Towards a Parent-Inclusive Attorney-Client Privilege

Few state or federal courts recognize a parent-childtestimonial or communication privilege. Yet, courtsrecognize privileges between spouses, clergy-penitent,and therapist-patient. Supported by the Wigmore testthat legitimized these privileges, this paper argues thatthe attorney-client privilege should still exist even if (1)a client’s parent is included in an attorney-clientmeeting in an advisory capacity; (2) the child disclosescontents of the attorney-client communications to thechild’s parent; or (3) the child discusses the contents ofthe attorney-client communications with the child’sparent

Confidential Settlements for Professional Malpractice

(Excerpt) A lawyer representing a plaintiff in a professional malpractice case advises her client not to file a complaint with the state regulatory body—the state bar, the medical board, or some other pertinent body—until later. The lawyer explains that she can offer to settle the case more favorably, more quickly, and at lower cost if they promise that, as part of the settlement, defendant’s malfeasance will never be reported to the state regulatory body responsible for ensuring professional competence in the area. This tactic may allow the client to negotiate a larger settlement because the defendant should be willing to pay more to avoid having to defend himself in an administrative, criminal, or disciplinary proceeding. Although the lawyer’s present client may benefit, failing to report professional malfeasance may hurt both future clients and the public at large. Professional regulatory agencies exist to protect the public from substandard professional services. Advising a client to withhold relevant information from such agencies for personal gain—both the client’s and the lawyer’s—raises serious public policy issues. The dangers of confidentiality provisions have been explored in other contexts, particularly in products liability and sexual harassment cases. This Article explores similar problems in the context of professional malpractice. Much of the discussion here will focus on legal malpractice; however, similar concerns and arguments apply to other professionals as well

Everyone Makes Mistakes: Attorney\u27s Fee Recovery in Legal Malpractice Suits

This Article argues that the American Rule should be changed for legal malpractice suits because the attorney–client relationship is the quintessential fiduciary relationship and because of the added concern of unequal information available to each party as a result of the large disparity in power. Attorneys must abide by ethical rules and owe fiduciary duties to their clients, which include the duties of competence, diligence, and loyalty. Because it is this very relationship that distinguishes legal malpractice suits from an ordinary lawsuit, awarding attorney’s fees to the damaged plaintiff client helps maintain fiduciary relationships and furthers the interests of justice. This Article first explains the law of legal malpractice and fiduciary duty. Then, the Article examines the American Rule on attorney’s fees and the current exceptions, including contractual agreements, the common fund doctrine, the private attorney general doctrine, federal and statutory exceptions, and the bad faith doctrine. Finally, the Article looks at the treatment of legal malpractice cases and awards of attorney’s fees in the fifty states and sets forth the argument that legal malpractice cases should be an additional exception to the American Rule. Lawyers should accept responsibility for their mistakes and do what is required to make their clients whole