Ethics and Professional Responsibility
We have extensive experience representing lawyers, law firms, judges, medical professionals, accountants, and other professional service providers in matters relating to professional liability and ethical obligations. We have successfully represented professionals in disciplinary hearings and litigation before various state boards, including the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. We frequently counsel clients on various ethical issues that arise in the course of their legal practices or when lawyers leave law firms.
This segment of our practice is headed by James C. Schwartzman, a Judge on the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline. Mr. Schwartzman is also the former Chairman of the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Disciplinary Board, Continuing Legal Education Board, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA) Board. He has taught courses at the U.S. Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute and Temple University School of Law. In addition, Mr. Schwartzman has been selected by his peers as one of The Best Lawyers in America from 2006 to 2018 for his work in Plaintiffs and Defendants Legal Malpractice Law and Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law, and has been named Philadelphia Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law Lawyer of the Year.
We represent professionals from initial inquiries through full disciplinary hearings for various alleged violations. In addition, we successfully represent professionals before state disciplinary boards in regards to reciprocal actions taken as a result of disciplinary actions from other state and federal enforcement authorities, such as the SEC, the IRS, AICPA/PICPA, legal disciplinary boards and medical boards.
We have vast experience assisting with license applications, renewal applications, malpractice insurance applications and employment applications. Our team is well-equipped to answer questions concerning the appropriateness of a response to an inquiry in order to avoid disciplinary action or other threats to employment.
The results of disciplinary and other professional liability actions ordinarily are not disclosed publicly. We respect and maintain those confidences.
