Assignment
Research the Virginia State Bar website and/or other sites to locate two disciplinary (or civil/criminal) cases: one regarding a lawyer, and one involving a nonlawyer, both in Virginia. Write a 3 to 4 page paper summarizing and analyzing the cases given what you've learned about legal ethics this term.
Identify and discuss the ethical violations addressed in your chosen cases, including the facts surrounding the applicable duty and how such was breached. Was the legal professional's breach of ethical duty based on an action/commission or an inaction/omission? What disciplinary sanction was applied? For each duty noticed, mention in the body of your paper the appropriate rule of professional conduct, as well as cite separately in your references section. You may look to either or both Virginia's or the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct for support.
Also, write about the following:
i. Did you feel that the ethical violations of the legal professional in one instance was more grievous than the other's? How so?
ii. Do you agree with the sanctions/discipline applied by the board to each respondent? Was the discipline sufficient, do you think? Would you have handled issued a different form of discipline?
iii. What could the legal professional have done differently to avoid breaching his/her duty?
iv. Does the case note whether the legal professional had prior disciplinary history? Or whether s/he cooperated with the disciplinary board and proceedings? Did either of these affect the outcome? How so?
v. Were you surprised by anything you read about the case?
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
i) The answer should be typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides.
ii) The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
iii) Also include a reference page. The Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.