Professor Giesel to present third annual Flexner Forum Lecture Sept. 29

Professor Giesel to present third annual Flexner Forum Lecture Sept. 29

Professor Grace Giesel will present the third annual Flexner Forum Lecture on Sept. 29 from 12:15-1:15 p.m. in Room 275 at the Brandeis School of Law. This year's topic is "Lawyer Promises of Secrecy in Settlements and Lawyer Ethics."

According to Giesel, on a relatively frequent basis, when a civil matter settles, the defendant desires to limit what the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s counsel can say about the defendant, the matter, and the settlement after the settlement of the matter.

Defendants have always been interested in limiting what the plaintiff and plaintiff’s counsel can do or say about the defendant and such, but in these days when a lawyer can post a discussion of the defendant to a blog and those statements be seen around the globe forever, that interest in restraining the opposition and opposition’s counsel is even greater.

Ethics opinions from the ABA and other states are proof that the practice is widespread.

During the lecture, Giesel will analyze whether such arrangements are contrary to the Rules of Professional Conduct. In doing so, she will be looking primarily at Rule 5.6, the rule prohibiting a lawyer from entering into an arrangement that limits a lawyer’s right to practice law and ethics opinions interpreting the application of that rule to this situation.

She will also look briefly at whether such an arrangement might be contrary to Rule 3.4(f), the rule prohibiting a lawyer from asking someone not to give relevant information to another.

Members of the Law School community are invited to the Flexner Forum Lecture.