Leaving Government Employment: Ethics Issues for Lawyers (Presented by the Federal Bar Association Federal Career Service Division and Senior Lawyers Division)

Tom Mason, Partner | HWG

Thomas B. Mason represents lawyers and law firms on professional responsibility and ethics matters, including malpractice, disqualification, disciplinary investigations and prosecutions, partner admissions and departures, and law firm dissolutions. Tom’s disciplinary experience includes matters before the USPTO’s Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) as well as numerous state bars. He also counsels and advises lawyers and law firms in all of the above areas so as to avoid problems or disputes before they arise. Thomas was named Washington, D.C., Ethics and Professional Responsibility Lawyer of the Year for 2014, 2017, 2019, and Legal Malpractice Law – Defendants Lawyer of the Year for 2018 and 2023 by Best Lawyers. He has served as an expert in ethics and related issues on numerous occasions. Prior to private practice, Thomas worked for the Federal Public Defender for the District of Maryland, where he represented clients in a wide variety of cases, including espionage, civil rights, mail and wire fraud, and controlled substance prosecutions. He went on to join the District of Columbia Public Defender Service where he had an intensive criminal trial and appellate practice. Thomas is a member of the D.C. Bar’s Global Legal Practice Committee and a past member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility. Thomas served on the D.C. Bar Legal Ethics Committee from 2006 to 2012, including three terms as Chair from 2009 to 2012. Thomas also served on the D.C. Bar Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee from 2002 to 2008 and then again from 2013 to 2020, including terms as Vice-Chair and Chair. During his tenure, the Committee adopted the most extensive revisions to the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct since the D.C. Bar adopted the Rules in 1991. Thomas speaks and writes frequently on ethics and malpractice matters. He is a frequent speaker at the D.C. Bar and has also spoken before various sections of the American Bar Association, the Practising Law Institute, the American Law Institute and a number of other bar and industry organizations. He has written on topics such as non-lawyer partners and multiple “of counsel” relationships with different law firms. Thomas has taught ethics and professional responsibility at the Georgetown University School of Law from 2008 to 2016 and has taught various subjects at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, Columbus School of Law at Catholic University and American University’s Washington College of Law.

Hope Todd, Associate Director Legal Ethics, Regulation Counsel | District of Columbia Bar

Hope C. Todd oversees the legal ethics program at the District of Columbia Bar. Since 2006, Ms. Todd has provided legal ethics guidance through the Bar’s Ethics Helpline on the interpretation and application of the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct. She regularly teaches ethics CLEs and serves on panels for local and national audiences. Ms. Todd is a contributing author for the “Speaking of Ethics” and “Ask the Ethics Experts” features of the Washington Lawyer. She is staff counsel to the D.C. Bar Rules of Professional Conduct Review and Legal Ethics Committees. Ms. Todd is a former member of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility (2014-2017) and served as the SCEPR liaison to the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services. She is a member of the National Organization of Bar Counsel (NOBC), the ABA Center on Professional Responsibility, and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL). Before joining the D.C. Bar in 1998, Ms. Todd was in private practice in New York. She is a graduate of the University of Richmond School of Law and holds a B.A. in public policy from the College of William and Mary.

I. Federal law restrictions on activities of former government employees who enter private practice | 2:00pm – 2:15pm

II. Ethical restrictions on former government employees who enter private practice | 2:15pm – 2:30pm

III. Discussion of “particular matter” or matter involving a “specific party or parties” in the federal statute and the ethics rules | 2:30pm – 2:45pm

IV. Discussion of screening and waiver relating to former government employees under the federal statute and the ethics rules | 2:45pm – 3:00pm