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Law Practice,
Ethics/Professional Responsibility

Jun. 26, 2020

Pandemic professional responsibility: Legal ethics and COVID-19

The legal complications caused by COVID-19 have raised some novel legal issues, but there are no special COVID-19 ethics rules, they are the same rules we have always had, applied to novel circumstances.

Wendy L. Patrick

Wendy is a California lawyer, past chair and advisor of the California State Bar Ethics Committee (Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct), and past chair of the San Diego County Bar Association Legal Ethics Committee. Any opinions expressed here are her own, and do not reflect that of her employer. This article does not constitute legal advice.

While much of society was #SafeAtHome earlier in 2020, lawyers remained busy at work — remotely that is, to determine how legal obligations were changing with electronic filings, unexpected court closures, and frustrated clients. For lawyers with pending court cases and looming deadlines, quarantine felt less like a staycation and more like house arrest. Now that courts are up and running remotely, lawyers are challenged to ensure they tackle the backlog of cases effe...

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