Interactive analysis/discussion of a series of ethical "mysteries" (including client-counseling skills and issues) and the historical evolution of the regulation of the practice of law in the context of ethical rules, civil malpractice standards and legal proscriptions and prescriptions.
DVD Supplemental Information
Title: Ethics – Mysteries and Histories
Instructor: James R. Wrenn, Jr., J.D
Presenters: James R. Wrenn, Jr., J.D. and William D. Brown, Ph.D.
Description:
Interactive analysis/discussion of a series of ethical "mysteries" (including client-counseling skills and issues) and the historical evolution of the regulation of the practice of law in the context of ethical rules, civil malpractice standards and legal proscriptions and prescriptions.
Credit Hours: 1.0 CLE Hour (Ethics/Professionalism) depending upon jurisdiction
Credit Hrs: 1 CLE Hour (Ethics, Dual, General) depending upon jurisdiction
*Note - DVD's are not preapproved for CLE. Written materials are provided as a url link on the cover of the DVD. TRT, Inc. does provide documentation following the written materials, for you to submit to your state bar for approval.
Dissemination: DVD
Seminar Content: (References to "Rule" mean the Model Rules of Professional Conduct)
.50 hour = Presentation of a historical perspective on the evolution of legal-ethics standards and means for enforcing them as a foundation for common-sense understanding of the nexus between law and morality to facilitate practicable practice of law in accordance with such standards.
1. Historical evolution of attorney-client relationship
2. Historical evolution of civil standards
3. Historical evolution of formalized rules of ethics
4. Historical evolution of disciplinary-enforcement systems
Brief summary of methodology for solving ethical problems
Reading/Thinking assignment to each participant.
.50 hour = Interactive session focusing on a series of hypothetical scenarios as "ethical mysteries" to be solved by participants. The hypothetical problems focus upon issues such as fees (Rule 1.5), perjury by a client (Rule 1.6), handling unexpected acquisition of evidence of a crime (Rule 1.2), responding to being "fired" by a client (Rule 1.16), personal, non-professional relationships between lawyer and client (Rule 1.7), disclosures to client upon discovering one's own negligence, and conflicting-interests (i.e., divergent interests)(Rule 1.7). These examples are illustrative rather than exhaustive.
A. Terms of Engagement and Engagement of Terms
B. Interests-- Conflicting, Differing or Adversely Influencing
C. Frivolous Pleading or Pleading Frivolity
D. Protecting Confidences or Confiding Protection
E. Funding in Trust or Trust in Funding
F. Electronic Discovery -- Shock & Awe.
G. Problem Lawyers and Lawyers' Problems
H. Hot Potato or Musical Chairs
I. Sexy Cases or Casing Sex
Presenter:
James R. Wrenn, Jr., J.D.
jwrenn@wrennlaw.com
Education
J.D. - University of Virginia Law School (1971)
B.A. - (History) University of Richmond (1968)
Bar Membership
Virginia State Bar: Member since 1972
Admission to Practice
Virginia Supreme Court & all inferior courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia
US District Courts for Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Positions
Virginia State Bar Counsel (1976-1977)
Virginia State Bar Special Counsel (1972-1976)
Private Practice since 1977
Academic Appointments
Adjunct Instructor on Legal Ethics, University of Richmond Law School (1978-1980)
Adjunct Professor, School of Business, Virginia Commonwealth University (1975-1977)
Publishing/Writing/Lecturing
Author/Lecturer (pro bono) for seminars and publications by pro-bono CLE organizations and bar associations (continually since 1975)
Author/Lecturer VLR Seminars (1986-1975) Recent Case-Law; Professional Responsibility Issues
Editor of Virginia Law Reports (VLR) (formerly VRR) (private reporting service for appellate case-law in Virginia) (1981-1995)
Affiliations
President, National Organization of Bar Counsel (NOBC) 1976
Virginia Sate Bar (participation on various committees not listed)
Potpourri
Major Fields of Interest: Lawyer discipline, legal ethics, reinstatement, judicial ethics, Judicial Inquiry & Review, Commission matters, expert-witness issues
Presenter:
William D. Brown, Ph.D.
wdb@trtcle.com
Education
Ph.D. - Florida State University
M.Th. - Texas Christian University
B.D. - Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University
B.A. - Lynchburg College
Positions
Chairman and presenter, TRT, Inc.
President, The Ethics Institute
Private Practice (Clinical Psychology)
Academic Appointments
Chair, Dept. of Family Psychology and Community Development, University of Maryland
Department Head, Dept. of Child Development & Family Relations, and Associate
Professor, Human Factors Research Laboratory, Colorado State University
Professor of Family Life, Stephens College
Instructor (Psychology), United States Armed Forces Institute
Publishing/Writing
Board of Directors – Lapdog or Watchdog?, Leesburg, VA: Wycliff Publishers, 2007
The Ethics of Legal Ethics (Vol. 1), Washington: The Wayne Smith Company, 1995
The Right Thing: ethics inaction/ethics in action, Washington: The Wayne Smith Company,
1991
Welcome Stress! It Can Help You be Your Best, Minneapolis: CompCare Publishing Co.,
1983
Families Under Stress, Washington: Prentice Hall (Brady Division), 1977
Affiliations
American Bar Association Center for Professional Responsibility
American Psychological Association
Potpourri
Married to Nett Brown
Two children
Seven grandchildren
Veteran, United States Navy (Submarines)
