Oct. 5, 2022 – The title of Stuart Teicher’s podcast says it all: “Legal Ethics is Cool.” Teicher, a legal educator and adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law School, said he calls himself an “ethics geek.”
“I don’t know why I like it so much,” Teicher said. “I think that what fascinated me from the beginning was the idea that ethics as an area of law is about judging other people’s behavior.”
Teicher, who sits on the lawyer disciplinary board in New Jersey, will give a plenary presentation at the Wisconsin Solo and Small-firm Conference (WSSFC) on Oct. 27-29 (held at Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells), and virtually on Nov. 14-16, 2022.
Teicher said he sees the rules of professional conduct as guideposts rather than goads.
“I have a little bit of a different view of the rules altogether,” Teicher said. “I really do think they can be a guide for how we can become better lawyers.”
To make his point, Teicher cited the three foundational rules in the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct: Rules 1.1, 1.3, and 1.4 – dealing with, respectively, competence, diligence, and communications.
“If you were to pull out the different elements of those rules, they really give us a road map on how to be great lawyers,” Teicher said. “About being prepared, having the legal knowledge and skill, communicating with our clients … if you look deeply at the rules, you can get a checklist at how to be great at what you do.”
Teicher will give two presentations at the Solo and Small-firm Conference: one on the relationship between Facebook posts and mental health, and one titled “What the Bad Lawyers of Hollywood Can Teach us About Ethics.”
Registration is included for Ultimate Pass Gold subscribers; Ultimate Pass Silver subscribers will receive a substantial discount. Ultimate Pass FAQs.
Attendees will receive to 8.5 CLE and 6.0 EPR credits by viewing complimentary webcast replays in November and December.
