Professional Responsibility & Attorney Malpractice Research

By Barry Shanks, University of New Hampshire School of Law Library

1. Model Rules of Professional Conduct

American Bar Association, Annotated Model Rules of Professional Conduct (6th ed. 2007), Print at KF305 .A75 A55

Lexis. ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and Code of Judicial Conduct

Westlaw. ABA-MRPC unannotated; ABA-AMRPC annotated

American Bar Association, Legislative History of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct: Their Development in the ABA House of Delegates (1987), KF306.L45

 

2. Model Code of Professional Responsibility

American Bar Association, Model Code of Professional Responsibility (1982), KF305.A2 A6

 

3. ABA Canons of Professional Ethics (Historical)

American Bar Association, Canons of Professional Ethics. Online through MOML. Contains text of the 1908 Canons of Professional Ethics, the first code of ethics adopted by the ABA. 

 

4. Compilations of Model Codes, ABA Standards & Other Ethics Codes

Professional Responsibility Standards Rules & Statutes (annual), KF305 .A29 P76

Regulation of Lawyers, Statutes and Standards (annual), KF305.A15 R44

American Bar Association, ABA Compendium of Professional Responsibility Rules and Standards (annual), KF306.A2

 

5. State Codes

State Bar Web Sites, http://www.abanet.org/cpr/links.html. Alphabetical listing of all states, with bar associations and rules of professional conduct.

Westlaw. XX-RULES (XX is the state's postal abbreviation)

Lexis. Statutes & Legislative Materials. Contains the full text of the state code from all 50 states – including its code of professional ethics.

 

National Reporter on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility (Roy M. Mersky & Norman Quist eds., 1983- ) Print KF305.A3 N37. Contains the ethics code for each state. 

State Annotated Codes, Rules Supplement The “Court Rules – State” supplements include the state codes of professional ethics.

NH Rules of Professional Conduct: http://www.courts.state.nh.us/rules/pcon/index.htm \

 

The ABA and the bar associations of each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia publish ethics opinions in response to requests for advice from lawyers. The ethics opinions are advisory and not enforceable as law, but can be cited to show how a bar association has interpreted a specific provision of the Model Rules or Model Code.

 

ABA/BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct (1980-)KF306.A6 A4
Online BNA Database and available on Lexis and Westlaw (see Looseleafs below)
Since 1980, the Lawyers' Manual has published summaries of ethics opinions from all state and local bar associations, with an extensive subject index for locating opinions on a particular topic. 

 

National Reporter on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility (Roy M. Mersky & Norman Quist eds., 1983- ) KF308.A3 N37. Full text of state ethics opinions.

Westlaw. ABA-ETHOP database. ABA Formal and Informal opinions. METH-EO database.  XXETH-EO (XX is the state's postal abbreviation). Covers selected states only.

 

Lexis. ABA Formal Ethics Opinions and ABA Informal Ethics Opinions. Legal Ethics Opinions. Covers selected states only.

New Hampshire State Bar ethics opinions: http://www.nhbar.org/legal-links/ethics1.asp

 

Digests: Topics include Attorney & Client, District & Prosecuting Attorneys, Malicious Prosecution, Privileged Communication & Confidentiality

Lexis.  Judicial Ethics Opinions

Westlaw. Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility - Federal Cases and Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility - State Cases

Comprehensive Looseleaf Services

ABA/BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct (1980-) KF306.A6 A4

Primary materials and commentary on legal ethics. The "Manual" section contains a discussion of a wide variety of issues in legal ethics, citing the Model Code and Model Rules where appropriate.  Summaries of and citations to relevant opinions and cases are collected in binders for every five year period since 1980.  The print version includes a "Current Reports" section, which contains a biweekly newsletter that reviews the latest developments in the field.

 

National Reporter on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility (Roy M. Mersky & Norman Quist eds., 1983- ). KF308.A3 N37

Geoffery C. Hazard & W. William Hodes, The Law of Lawyering (3d ed. 2001-) KF306 .H33

 

Ronald E. Mallen & Jeffrey M. Smith, Legal Malpractice (2009 ed.) KF313.M34

David J. Meiselman, Attorney Malpractice: Law and Procedure (1980 -) KF313.M44

Duke N. Stern & JoAnn Felix-Retzke, A Practical Guide to Preventing Legal Malpractice (1983 - ) KF313.S82

For other books on legal ethics, try a subject search on MelCat using these subject headings:

Legal Ethics -- United States
Attorney and Client -- United States
Lawyers -- Malpractice
Lawyers -- United States -- Discipline

American Law Institute, Restatement of the Law Third: The Law Governing Lawyers (2000), KF395.A2 L32 2000, also on Westlaw (REST-LGOVL database)

Attempt to clarify and synthesize the common law applicable to the legal profession. Topics: Regulation of the Legal Profession; The Client-Lawyer Relationship; Client and Lawyer: The Financial and Property Relationship; Lawyer Civil Liability; Confidential Client Information; Representing Clients - In General; Representing Clients in Litigation; Conflicts of Interest

 

Many journals publish articles on issues relating to legal ethics. 

To locate articles by subject:LegalTrac, online Gale database, Lexis (Legal Resources Index),Westlaw (LRI database)

To determine whether we hold a specific journal and if so in what media:Serials Solutions (Journals A to Z Holdings), online database.

 

To search through full text of articles on legal ethics: Westlaw. (ETH-TP), Lexis. (Legal Ethics Law Review Articles, Combined)

ABA Center for Professional Responsibility, http://www.abanet.org/cpr/
Provides news, ABA publications, Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and ABA Formal Opinions.  ETHICSearch analyses ethical dilemmas and assist attorneys and law students identify appropriate standards and interpretive materials to resolve them.

 

American Legal Ethics Library (LII Cornell),  http://www.law.cornell.edu/ethics/
Digital library with ethics commentary and model and state rules of professional conduct.

 

Legalethics.com, http://www.legalethics.com
Links to articles, rules and information relating to ethical issues associated with the use of technology by legal professionals. 

 

Guide to Legal Malpractice Law (Hieros Gamos), http://www.hg.org/practic.html
Links to web sites, articles, discussion groups, ethics commentary, associations, and international, European, and Canadian malpractice information.