Ethics for Banking & Financial Services Lawyers

Lawyers in banking and financial services practices face some of the most daunting ethical challenges, and in many instances, there are no clear answers to guide how best to deal with these challenges. Understanding where the minefields and traps are located is essential for lawyers in the industry. This program, taught by C. Evan Stewart, a Senior Partner at Cohen & Gresser LLP, will cover client confidentiality obligations (including possible SEC preemption), updates and challenges to the attorney-client privilege and attorney work product doctrine, and conflict of interest risks.

Mr. Stewart is also a visiting professor at Cornell University and an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School. He has been a regularly contributing columnist for the New York Law Journal since 1990 and has published nearly 300 articles on diverse legal subjects; he is also frequently featured in the national media and regularly speaks across the country on securities, professional responsibility, and complex litigation issues.  In 2016, Mr. Stewart was awarded the Stanford D. Levy Award from the New York State Bar Association's Ethics Committee for his contribution to the field of legal ethics.

Learning Objectives:   

1. Understand client confidentiality obligations (and the conflict between state attorney rules and the SEC's rules governing attorneys)
2. Get an update on developments affecting the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine
3. Learn about attorney whistleblower rights (if any)
   
4. Understand whether conflicts of interest can be waived (to your client's detriment)
5. Get exposure to the complex risks facing attorneys in the financial services industry, including multiple representation and multi-jurisdictional traps
6. Appreciate the dangers of documents, as well as the traps inherent in inadvertent disclosure