A session with this title was conducted today at the Third Circuit Judicial Conference. Judge Greenaway headlined the panel. But the real driver was a Senior Consultant from Aon Risk Solutions, who posed a series of hypothetical scenarios, prowled the audience prodding attendees to opine on the issues presented by those scenarios, and then got input from the panelists about the “correct” answers (some fact patterns seemed to have no single right answer). The issues raised included the duty to cite adverse authority in briefing, an appellate lawyer’s ability to represent multiple criminal co-defendants simultaneously, the duty to correct oral argument misstatements of one’s co-counsel, the duty to tell clients about a missed deadline for appeal or the failure of other counsel to preserve issues at trial, and more. It was a very interesting and enlightening two hours.
The materials for this session, which include the hypothetical scenarios and resource materials for addressing the issues raised, are available here. Everyone should look at this, and everyone who does will learn something, since these materials present lots of good food for thought.