Ethics in Negotiations CLE

Ethics in Negotiations

February 2013

Ethics in Negotiations

Convenient, timely, reliable, and affordable...

Teleseminars are midday continuing legal education conferences broadcast over the telephone. From the convenience of your office or home, you are able to dial into an 800 number, and hear nationally recognized practice leaders speak on important issues in the law. You are also able to ask them your questions. Teleseminars marry the best of technology and education to bring the world of CLE to your office or home.

How to Register

There are 2 easy ways to register:

1. CALL us! (303) 860-0608, or toll free (888) 860-2531

2. Or REGISTER ONLINE NOW by using the corresponding course links above.

Program Description:

Virtually every communication a lawyer makes - in person, in writing, or over the phone or through email - is a negotiation, a statement about the facts of a case or transaction or a statement about the law, with the intent of gaining an advantage for his or her client. Often the instinct is to go right up to the line in these communications, never stating a falsehood or even actively misleading an adversary, but casting the lawyer's case in the most favorable light possible. Though there are some bright lines involved in the application of ethics rules to negotiations, most of the lines are fine and sometimes difficult to discern in active conversations. This program will provide you with a practical guide to how ethics rules apply in transactional and litigation negotiations, crucial distinctions between affirmative statements and mere silence about the facts of a case and the law, and when attorneys have an affirmative obligation to correct errors by adversaries.

- Practical ethics for negotiations in litigation and in transactional practice

- Statements of fact versus mere silence about facts, including about intent and value

- Statements about the law and whether you are required to correct adversaries' mistakes

- Silence about errors in settlement agreements

- Negotiating in other jurisdictions, including in ADR and in transactional negotiations

- Negotiations with represented parties

Faculty:

David Rabinowitz is a partner in the New York City office of Moses & Singer, LLP, where he is co-head of the firm's litigation, employment and labor practices. He has more than 30 years' experience as a litigator in commercial, copyright, trademark employment, trust and estate and real estate matters. He has spoken and written widely on ethical issues for attorneys across a wide range of practice areas. He has also served as an adjunct professor of law at Seton Hall Law School, teaching copyright law. He formerly served as a trustee of The Copyright Society of the USA. Mr. Rabinowitz received his B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.

Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a broad complex commercial, business and securities litigation practice. He also has a substantial practice advising businesses on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections. For more than 20 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner's Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation. Mr. Spahn has served as member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee. He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.