©2007 New Jersey Law Journal Page printed from: http://www.njlj.com A Conspicuous Hole in Ethics Training Cindy Lopez 04-27-2007 For all the talk of the need to prevent ethics transgressions in the legal profession, a glaring education gap exists for one group: paralegals. Usually it does not rise to the level of a topic to be covered - until there is a problem. It generally crops up after an unintentional violation of the attorney-client relationship by support staff members who have received no ethics training. As a paralegal for more than seven years, I often get questions from colleagues asking what to do in certain situations. Those of us who have been educated in an American Bar Association-accredited program have some knowledge of ethical issues. However, some support staff are not even aware of the ethical issues to avoid, yet they are on their firms' front lines every day, in danger of unintentionally violating ethics rules. In a poll taken on Jan. 3 by www.NJParalegal.com, we asked our members the following: Have you ever received training or instruction by your attorney-employer on how to handle ethical issues? Specifically, maintaining attorney-client relationships and the confidentiality of your clients? The answer: Of the 42 who responded, 80 percent said no. The results are not surprising. I talked with the principal paralegal at a midsized central New Jersey law firm who has 20 years of experience in the field, spanning three firms, and he was not surprised either. He detailed numerous examples of violations he has witnessed: • Paralegals and support staff failing to properly identify themselves in telephone and written communications, leaving the impression they were attorneys. • Paralegals and support staff giving advice in response to questions from clients. • Paralegals and staff engaging in conversations with clients in the reception area in front of other clients. • Staff lecturing, berating clients or being otherwise disrespectful to clients or court personnel. At the same time, it seems that attorneys are not aware of such behavior, a stunning situation in light of the close contact paralegals have with clients. Our survey also looked at the issue from the other side, asking law firms whether they address ethics matters with employees. Kimberly Curtis, director of legal services at Wilentz, Goldman and Spitzer in Woodbridge, replied that all new hires are given a one-on-one discussion on the topic, review a confidentiality agreement and are asked to sign it. Most small firms responded that they do not specifically address the issue; it has only caused a problem occasionally and the behavior was corrected when needed. So what is the solution? The 20-year paralegal sums it up best: "Attorneys need to hold regular ethics seminars for their staff. Large firms most likely could handle this easily. Smaller firms or solos could send their staff for continuing legal education classes. Unfortunately, my experience is that most attorneys, even in large firms, do not see the value in paying to send their staff for CLE. It is nonsensical to me, but it is true. "Until attorneys wake up and understand that it is their license on the line should one of their staff seriously cross that ethics line and cause an incident, it is the attorney who will be the one under investigation and answering to the Office of Attorney Ethics. Since I do not believe most attorneys and firms will act on their own, I believe it should be made mandatory for attorney licensure (and continuation of the licensure) that all staff falling under their supervision take ethics CLE every year," he says. Lopez is a paralegal in the office of Charles Byrnes in Toms River and is founder of www.NJParalegal.com, a career resource.