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Thomas F. Maffei quoted in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly on end of practicing with professionalism requirement for new lawyers

Thomas F. Maffei, senior counsel in the firm’s Litigation Department, was quoted in the September 2^nd issue of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. The article, “Course correction” discussed the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC)’s decision to eliminate the requirement recently admitted lawyers to take a “Practicing with Professionalism” course within 18 months passing the bar.

From the article:

In a sense, the course had the wrong target audience, given that professional responsibility is a required course in law school, says Boston attorney Thomas F. Maffei.

“If you look at the Board of Bar Overseers decisions, very few cases involve brand new lawyers,” Maffei says.

Instead, if Maffei had his way, experienced lawyers would be the ones required to take a program periodically, which would deal not just with ethical rules but practical issues such as managing one’s IOLTA account. Even requiring them to watch a video would be an improvement over the status quo, he says.

That Massachusetts does not have a mandatory CLE requirement is “out of touch with other jurisdictions,” Maffei adds.

“Lawyers can hold millions of dollars of other people’s money, with no accountability other than the bar rules,” he says.

Read the full article from Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. (subscriber content)