Author Archives › Deanna Brocker

Lawyers often come to us with funds in their trust account that they can’t identify.  Perhaps they hire an accountant or CPA to try to…more

A new ethics opinion, 2017 FEO 3, has now been published on this issue. For the public, finding a lawyer is just a click away….more

The Rules of Professional Conduct set forth the duties owed by lawyers to clients and others, and provide a framework to which lawyers must adhere.  The Rules…more

It’s 2017, and many of us are already losing our battle to keep our resolutions.  Often, New Year’s resolutions are about personal growth, and that’s…more

Lawyers in North Carolina know that a client’s file belongs to the client.  Even if you copy the client with all correspondence or court filings…more

I was reminded recently of an Ethics Decision (unpublished) that answered the question, “When must a lawyer disclose unsavory personal information” to a client or…more

In evaluating conflicts, I always tell my attorney clients that it is important to have a mechanism in place to (1) Identify, (2) Assess and (3)…more

There is a newly proposed ethics opinion (October 2016) which will supersede the information in this blog. Lawyers are familiar with targeted direct mail solicitation,…more

I am a natural born fretter. I tend to envision all the ways things could go wrong, and I tell myself it’s so I’ll be…more

For a while there, it looked as if the State Bar was going to require all law firms using any kind of personal mobile technology…more