Ethics for Plaintiff Firms at Settlement

Settlements in personal injury cases can significantly affect a plaintiff’s tax obligations, financial wellbeing, and eligibility for government benefits. As the legal landscape evolves, trial attorneys must be mindful of their expanding duty to consider these factors.

This CLE explores the circumstances in which personal injury attorneys may need to address non-litigation matters—such as taxes, government benefits, and financial concerns—before reaching a settlement. Although lawyers can ethically limit the breadth of their services, such limitations must be done with the client's informed consent. This session will examine the ethical guidelines for narrowing the scope of representation and making appropriate referrals to other professionals who specialize in these areas.

This course is co-sponsored with myLawCLE.

Key topics to be discussed:

• ABA Model Rules, including Rule 1.2
• Proper steps to secure informed consent and make referrals
• Narrowing the plaintiff lawyer’s scope of representation
• Identifying opportunities and risks from tax and financial issues at settlement

Date / Time: May 9, 2025 

• 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Eastern
• 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Central
• 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Mountain
• 11:00 am – 12:00 pm Pacific

Closed-captioning available