Robinson Stewart Montgomery & Doppke, LLC

For over 25 years, we have been involved in every aspect of lawyer ethics issues. We’ve advised, taught, practiced and developed law in the field. We are dedicated to helping Illinois attorneys who seek experienced guidance on ethical matters.

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Latest from Robinson Stewart Montgomery & Doppke, LLC

RSMD’s Sari Montgomery makes her debut as a legal ethics columnist at Business of Law Insider! In her inaugural column, she discusses an all-important question: can lawyers can avoid being disciplined even if they’ve made a mistake? And if so, how? Sari considers the risks all lawyers face in any kind of practice. Then she tackles the issue of what to do in case of a mistake. She gives sound advice for new and experienced lawyers alike.Stay tuned for more of Sari’s columns. And as always, if you find yourself in a legal ethics quandary, or facing attorney discipline,
Continue Reading Ethics Column: Avoiding Discipline Despite a Mistake

We’re proud to announce that our own Sari Montgomery has been named the new (and inaugural) ethics columnist for Business of Law Insider, a publication of BridgeTower Media. Sari will be writing a quarterly column, with her first column appearing next month.We’ll link to the columns on this site – be sure to follow along and stay current with Sari’s insights!
The post RSMD’s Sari Montgomery: Ethics Columnist appeared first on Robinson, Stewart, Montgomery & Doppke, LLC..
Continue Reading RSMD’s Sari Montgomery: Ethics Columnist

Unregistered practice: disciplinary offense or technical error? It’s not an academic exercise: 300 Oregon lawyers had to reckon with the consequences of sudden un-registration, however unintended, this past month. Should they even have had to worry about potentially being disciplined? Why do we say that unregistered lawyers are engaged in the unauthorized practice of law? Where do we go from here? We’ll discuss the situation and a proposed solution in this episode.
Continue Reading Legal Ethics Now & Next Episode 4: The 300

Firms with lawyers licensed in different states. A legal ethics thumbs up? Or a gateway to UPL? Is there a method in Illinois for setting up these kinds of entities, limiting the principals’ liability, and avoiding ethical pitfalls? There is – it’s covered in Supreme Court Rule 721. But should lawyers — especially those seeking to establish multijurisdictional practices –pursue registration for their firms under that rule? What happens if they don’t? Listen in for details!
Continue Reading Legal Ethics Now & Next Episode 3: Another State of Mind

Episode 2 of Legal Ethics Now & Next covers a topic mentioned in the previous episode: the Utah program that allows lawyers and other professionals to own legal service providers – a/k/a the Utah “regulatory sandbox.” How does that program work, and how’s it going? We’ll review that in this episode, and look at what it might mean for the future of legal regulation too. Check it out below!
Continue Reading Legal Ethics Now & Next Episode 2: Sandboxing

The RSMD legal ethics podcast, Legal Ethics Now & Next is happening! First episode is below. For now you can listen using this ultra-minimalist player, or if that doesn’t work, you can go here. We’ll be distributing the podcast to various streaming services soon, and we’ll be doing some more cool things with it in the future!

This podcast will be a forum for discussing the past, present, and future of legal ethics. We’ll touch on new trends as well as tips that’ll help you be at the forefront of our ever-changing field.

In this first episode, we touch
Continue Reading Legal Ethics Now & Next: A Legal Ethics Podcast

We did it. Together. We moved our office, in the dead of winter, in the surging pandemic, and landed safely at a great new space (33 North Dearborn, Suite 1420, Chicago 60602). Done, but quite the workout!

We couldn’t have done it without a lot of help (including and especially from our realtor Brian Zatz; our IT guru, Gregory Haley at Noventech; and our fabulous admin Brianna). We’re fortunate and grateful for all of it. Now, to ponder: what does it all mean?
Magic In Here
A bit of magic in blogging about this today, for
Continue Reading A Moving Move

As the world inches toward something like “reopening,” as current conditions continue to wreak a strange strain on us, maybe we eye a return to pre-pandemic client service and relationship management practices. Maybe we want to treat clients to dinner, or a ballgame, or a show. Maybe we want to focus on three Rs: reopening, relationships, and rejuvenation!

Maybe it’s also time to review what the ethical constraints on all that might be.

Thing of Value

In order to prove a violation of Rule 7.2(b), the ARDC would have to show, clearly and convincingly, that there was a quid pro
Continue Reading Three R’s

“Sub cash register,” Franck Blais CC-BY-SA 2.0I’ve blogged before about the ethical implications of practicing law without having registered with the Supreme Court – and the way the ARDC deals with that situation. Today I’ll address a related question: if it happens during litigation, what happens in the case? The Illinois Supreme Court has considered the issue several times, with outcomes that may surprise you.

No Constitutional Violation

Whether lawyer non-registration affected a substantive outcome in a criminal case was raised as an issue of first impression in People v. Brigham, 151 Ill.2d 58, 175 Ill.Dec. 720, 600 N.E.2d
Continue Reading Does It Register?

One product of the pandemic that lawyers and related professionals may have experienced, or may be experiencing, is a kind of stasis, a difficulty in moving beyond the tasks of the day toward a broader goal or better vision. How do I know? Well – personal experience.

Stuck

Hence the drop-off in blogging, among other things. I’m most fortunate and grateful to have been able to take steps to keep my family and me safe from illness or harm, and to be able to do the bulk of my work remotely. But as the abnormal time ground on, I
Continue Reading Stuck, Unstuck

“Tea Leaves,” Manu Sankerms (CC-BY-SA 2.0)

The ARDC recently released its 2019 Annual Report. The tale it tells is a familiar one – declines in investigations and prosecutions, the latter down to 44. (For some reason, my search of the ARDC’s website only brings up 42.) The Illinois Supreme Court entered 96 sanctions limiting or removing Illinois lawyers’ right to practice. That number is higher than the complaints filed partly because the cases ARDC files can be litigated for a year or more before reaching the Court, and partly because some matters are filed directly with the
Continue Reading Reading the Tea Leaves: ARDC Annual Report

It’s been a hard and confusing time for so many, in so many ways, that it almost seems like folly to write a blog post sorting out the ethics of the difficulties of practicing law. We’re all trying to survive out here, not really thinking about Rule 3.2. Not even ethics lawyers; your correspondent has been quite honestly grappling with a kind of analysis paralysis, trying to figure out the best way to contribute to the life of a profession on lockdown. For starters, it makes sense to look at the Illinois regulatory environment right now.
Getting a
Continue Reading Catching Up With Where We’re Going

“Closed,” Steve Snodgrass (CC-BY-2.0)

by Jim Doppke

Sometimes when I read about ever-accelerating innovations in legal tech, I come across articles about apps and programs dating from a few years ago. Not every one of them took off, of course, or even got up and running. I recently came across an article about an app that would have connected lawyers to other lawyers. The creators said that they would determine whether the lawyers involved were “being investigated” by the ARDC. I don’t know what ultimately happened to that app, but I know one thing: it could never
Continue Reading Unfounded

RSMD’s Jim Doppke addressed first-year law students at Loyola University School of Law on Monday, January 27, 2020, concerning civility in the legal profession — and what it means in the character and fitness process. Jim has represented and advised many applicants to the Illinois Bar, and he was pleased to bring his experience to bear at his alma mater. He looks forward to making a similar presentation to Loyola’s evening and weekend students on Saturday, February 1.
Continue Reading RSMD’s Jim Doppke Addresses Loyola 1Ls on Civility, Character & Fitness

The new year is well underway, and lawyers are already looking ahead, planning and executing and looking to grow. One thing our firm always does at this time of year is look around at the regulatory environment. We analyze what we’ve seen and heard, what our experiences have been, and what data – especially the data representing we know about ARDC’s enforcement efforts over the past year – can tell us.
It can be hard to tell exactly when we know the number of formal disciplinary complaints that the Administrator of the ARDC has filed during a given calendar year.
Continue Reading Closing the Books on 2019?