7/31/12 | 9/25/12 | 11/27/12 | 1/29/13

 MSBA Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) Committee
Meeting Summary

July 31, 2012
8:00 a.m.

Members Present: Luke Seifert – Chair, Mark Berhow, Eric Cooperstein, Cassie Hanson, Ken Kirwin, Michael Vadnie, Nancy Mischel-MSBA staff.  By telephone: Thomas Haluska, James Keuning, Marc Sebora, Elizabeth Wefel.

 

Discussion of Board of Law Examiners’ Petition for Rule Amendment:  Members briefly discussed this issue.  The Chair indicated he did not see a need to file any comments.

Social Security Ethics:  The law allows attorneys licensed in one state to handle social security disability cases in another state provided they do not hold themselves out as attorneys in the state where they are not licensed.  However, there have been some instances where attorneys licensed elsewhere have held themselves out as attorneys here. 

There have been few disciplinary actions across the country to address this issue, likely due to the fact that it is not very effective to issue an order regarding an attorney who is not licensed in the state.  There is little collaboration among the attorney regulation entities in the various states.

The Social Security Disability Law section of the MSBA may draft legislation to address this problem.  Committee members were hesitant about this approach because enforcement is a problem.  The Committee decided to ask the section to either send some representatives to the next RPC meeting to discuss it further, or have the Chair attend the next section meeting. 

Future Meetings:  The Committee will meet the last Tuesday of every month at 8:00 a.m.  An agenda will be sent via email one to two weeks prior to the meeting.  Meetings will be cancelled if there are no agenda items.  Committee members are welcome to send proposed agenda items to the Chair or to MSBA staff Nancy Mischel.

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MSBA Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) Committee
Meeting Summary

September 25, 2012
8:00 a.m.

Members Present: Luke Seifert – Chair, Timothy Baland, Pat Burns, Eric Cooperstein, Ken Kirwin, Michael Vadnie, Nancy Mischel-MSBA staff.  By telephone: Stephen Hoffman, James Keuning, David Schultz, Marc Sebora, Michael Vadnie.

 

Groupons:  The New Lawyers Section asked Mr. Seifert to present at a seminar they are holding on January 10 regarding using groupons to build your practice.  Groupons are discount deals where the service provider is generally paid half the amount charged as soon as the deal is purchased.  The Committee discussed some of the potential concerns in this area.  Mr. Keuning researched ethics issues with groupons in other states and shared this information with the Committee.  Timothy Baland will attend the New Lawyers Section seminar with Mr. Seifert and Mr. Keuning agreed to be a back-up if needed.

Social Security Disability and Ethics:  The federal government allows both attorneys and nonattorneys to represent social security disability claimants.  An attorney does not need to be licensed in the state where they are representing a claimant provided they are licensed in some state.  Andrew Kinney and Emily Cooper, co-chairs of the MSBA’s Social Security Disability Law Section, discussed issues they are seeing in this area.  Nonlawyers are allowed to advertise without the restrictions faced by attorneys, thus putting attorneys at a disadvantage.  Some companies engage in this advertising but contract with attorneys to represent the claimants or may have attorneys as employees.  Mr. Kinney has drafted legislation that may address this issue and will forward it to the Committee for their review and comment.

Future Meetings:  The Committee’s next meeting is Tuesday, October 30 at 8:00 a.m.  An agenda will be sent via email one to two weeks prior to the meeting.  Committee members are welcome to send proposed agenda items to the Chair or to MSBA staff Nancy Mischel.

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 MSBA Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) Committee
Meeting Summary

November 27, 2012
8:00 a.m.

Members Present: Luke Seifert – Chair, Timothy Baland, Eric Cooperstein, Cassie Hanson, Ken Kirwin, Nancy Mischel-MSBA staff, Andrew Kinney and Tracy Reid from the Social Security Disability Law Section.  By telephone: Megan Gaudette, Stephen Hoffman, James Keuning, David Schultz, Marc Sebora, Michael Vadnie.

Social Security Disability - proposed legislation:
Mr. Kinney spoke with the Committee at a prior meeting regarding issues social security disability practitioners were seeing in social security representation.  Mr. Kinney returned to the Committee to discuss proposed legislation he wrote to address the issues.  The Committee debated the merits of the proposed legislation, focusing on the aspects that pertain to the rules of professional conduct.  Following this discussion, a motion was made and seconded that the Committee take no position on the proposed legislation.  The motion passed. 

Guidance and information on the Gatekeeper Initiative: 
Ms. Mischel distributed information from the ABA regarding the gatekeeper initiative, which is an effort by governmental authorities to impose stringent anti-money laundering (“AML”) and counter-terrorist financing obligations on “gatekeepers” to the domestic and international monetary systems, including lawyers, civil law notaries, trust and company service providers, real estate agents, accountants and auditors.  The purpose of providing the information to Committee members is to make them aware of it; the MSBA will also look to distribute the information to its membership more broadly.

Future Meetings:  The Committee will not meet in December.  The next meeting will be Tuesday, January 29 at 8:00 a.m.  An agenda will be sent via email one to two weeks prior to the meeting.  Committee members are welcome to send proposed agenda items to the Chair or to MSBA staff Nancy Mischel.