As attorneys, we have an ethical obligation to zealously represent our clients. However, a fine line exists between acting as a zealous advocate and engaging in “Over-the-Line” litigation. In this program, attorney Robert N. Agre helps attorneys identify where “the line” is and what to do when one’s adversary is litigating from the other side of it. He provides effective strategies to combat overly aggressive litigators and explores the ethical limitations on "how far" an attorney can go in terms of providing her or his client with zealous representation.
Learning Objectives:
I. Identify who is an “Over-the-Line” litigator
II. Learn how to handle such litigators
III. Recognize ethical implications for “Over-the-Line” conduct
IV. Navigate candor to the tribunal v. zealous representation
This course originally appeared as a part of our February 2016 Bridge the Gap Event.
Law Office of Agre & Jensen
Robert N. Agre is the owner of the law firm of Agre & Jensen, where he is a certified criminal trial attorney. He practices in the areas of criminal law, trial practice, personal injury, legal ethics, and municipal law. He is a member of the Camden County Bar Association (Judicial Selection Committee), National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Association for Justice, and the New Jersey Association of Trial Lawyers. Mr. Agre was named 2012 Camden County Professional Lawyer of the Year. He has been awarded an AV rating, the highest possible, from Martindale-Hubbell and has been recognized by Super Lawyers for eight consecutive years. Mr. Agre is admitted to practice in New Jersey and before the United States District Court for the Districts of New Jersey, Eastern and Western Pennsylvania, and Southern New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.
Very thoughtful, hard won advice, of the practical reality of balancing ethical issues with real world situations.
Excellent presentation by a lawyer that has obviously been there.
Excellent.
Good speaker!
Entertaining as well as informative. Good speaker.
You can always tell the good trial lawyers. I enjoyed the presentation.
Excellent advice.
The instructor was great!
AMAZING!!!
Best speaker thus far for me. Knows how to present in a way that is informative and interesting at the same time.
An excellent presentation. Thank you, Robert.
Really basic, well suited for junior-level attorneys, but more experienced attorneys (should) already know most of this.
Rambo lawyer ! great class
Mr. Agre is an engaging lecturer.
wonderful presentation!
Thanks for the course.
Excellent presentation.
Very inciteful. Would sit in on his presentation even if it were not required of me.
Very interesting
I thought the instructor was excellent!
The speaker was authentic and knowledgeable.
Good lecture. He needs to give more lectures.
The speaker was very knowledgeable and engaging. I specifically enjoyed his comments on the Rambo adversary.
good
This guy is awesome.
Faculty was very engaging, identifying and covering in sufficient depth key ethical pitfalls in litigation practice. Well done!
excellent presentation
Great content and presenter
Excellent presentation.
One of the best seminars. ATtorney Agre was great to listen to.
Faculty's presentation was Great.
Some of the most straightforward and honest thoughts on the challenges of practicing law that I have heard in a CLE.
This guy is very good.
This appears to be a rather fraught area of the law and I very much appreciated the light the teacher shed on it.
Outstanding, thank you
Robert Agre was a great lecturer. Very engaging.
Very interesting situations presented during the second half of lecture
Speaker was very professional, and practical, and presented the material in a clear and understandable fashion.
Good course.
Bob Agre was a pleasure to listen to
Terrific
speaker was very charismatic
good course.
Enjoyed the speaker.
on a scale of one to four, this course deserves a five.
Great presentation.
Superb presenter; an exceptional webinar.
Knowledgeable speaker with practice tips that were from actual events. Helpful.
Good presentation. Effective without being long winded.
great presenter
This was the best presentation and substance. Wow!!!
Interesting program
This speaker was phenomenal. The course content was fantastic and speaker made it incredibly interesting. Highly recommend.
excellent speaker. addressed serious issues and made US make our own choices. great!
I liked that you included the question and answers segment at the end of the lecture.
excellent speaker
The presenter was excellent.
Mr. Agre was clear and concise and kept my attention throughout.
Excellent Presentation
Thanks for reprinted audience questions on the screen at the end during QA
Good presentation. Walking to and frough a bit distracting.
Fantastic presenter! Turn him loose on anything he can do regarding other classes.
This seminar is must viewing for any litigator and should be included in any Bridge the Gap or Transition to Practice program.
There really were no definite answers on where the line is. It seems we just practice in the grey area and explain to ethics board why we did it to benefit our client.
Excellent!
very good
Well presented, interesting
One of the best presentations I have listened to. His personal examples used to illustrate his points were terrific, and lead to analyses and recommendations that you might not ordinarily expect but were extremely valuable and, well, the best for promoting justice. Fascinating.
Very important subject matter in an ever decreasingly professional environment. Did not overload you with information, and the examples were relevant and backed up with case law. This was an enjoyable and well thought out course.
Interesting examples - well done.
Very interesting.
Very accomplished speaker who knows what he is talking about.
I appreciated that the cases discussed were actual cases. Very helpful.
I'm not a litigator but I have dealt with some difficult attorneys - I found the information useful.
Clarifying and helpful
This was the best CLE course I have watched. I wish every course could be this interesting and informative.
Good presentation
very interesting
A very well-presented course.
informative
Excellent instruction
Great
Very useful tips on dealing with difficult situations.
enjoyable and interesting
This was a great presentation. Helpful and so interesting!!
I enjoy this speaker's style and his use of real world stories. This was a thought provoking lecture. I will be looking to take more courses from this speaker. Great job.
good course
Informative.
excellent presentation. thank you.
Very Interesting subject matter.
Mr. Agre is very good
Agre is fantastic!
Most excellent
Excellent course
excellent presenter
This program geared towards litigators, but interesting none-the-less.
Basic but interesting
Useful information, great presentation!
Very nice, clear and well-articulated presentation..
Excellent speaker with common sense and great real world examples. A fine job.
Excellent!
One of the best ethics classes I have heard - nice mixture of real case scenarios and the ethics rules.
he was excellent
Nice presentation. Thank you.
One of the best Law Line lectures.
enjoyed presentation
Great course! The issues were very well presented.
Very clear and concise.
Dealing with the "Rambo" lawyer that we are all faced with at some point in our careers. Well said.
Very practical and useful seminar.
Very engaging, frank grappling with difficult ethical questions.
Good
This was a well planned out and interesting lecture which covered some tricky topics in this area of the law. Thanks for such a great presentation.
Great communicator and the lecture was engaging
Good presentation
Best instructor to date.
The portion of practice tips on how to deal with the "Rambo Lawyer Opponent" was the highlight of the presentation.
excellent presentation
He is very good!
Possibly the best ethics course I've ever watched
Entertaining and informative!
Very knowledgeable
Great Course
good topic
An area that is very thought provoking
Well-done lecture.
Very good material and presentation.
This instructor was awesome -- incredibly engaging, and his use of actual case-law examples was perfect. Other instructors should use him as a tutorial.
Very listenable; compelling instructor with interesting and instructive case studies.
Outstanding!
Terrific Discussion of a very difficult area of practice.
An excellent presentation and helpful candor. Thank you.
I liked this speaker - he knew his stuff and presented the material well
Very well presented and an engaging speaker.
Excellent course. Fabulous speaker. Engaging and knowledgable. Content very interesting
Excellent presenter.
Nice video.
Excellent presentation.
Excellent program. Very useful and informative.
EXCELLENE PRESENTATION!!!
Well Done.
This was a particularly engaging CLE.
Very good course!
terrific suggestions for practice. VERY straightforward.
Great job with a difficult subject.
Great instructor.
Great Lecture.
good
best one i have seen yet.
Extremely clear and well done.
Well done
excellent way of wrapping material into stories
I wish I had heard this before first trial!
Good delivery by Mr. Agre.
This was very interesting - dealing with a Rambo lawyer.
Excellent examples of real cases
Attorney Agre is a very compelling speaker.
Awesome!
Clearly presented.
Excellent presentation
He did a great presentation leaving the audience to grapple with some tough answers! Thanks!
Excellent presentation.
I'm not a criminal attorney, but very interesting subject matter.
good discussion and suggestions to some tough situations
Once again, an outstanding presentation that was delivered by a clear expert in a compelling manner. Very very good.
Excellent presentation, very thoughtful analysis of extremely complicated issues.
Great talk!
good course
Good seminar
Really excellent presentation, especially w/r/t the realities of criminal defense.
Speaker is clear, precise and plain-speaking, making content easy to understand
Great
Outstanding presentation. Very thought provoking. Should be a required course for every attorney.
Very informative.. thought provoking
The written materials were very helpful.
Great presenter. Both knowledgeable in the subject and personable enough to keep it interesting without "getting lost in the weeds" on a complicated subject.
very good, effective delivery, presentation, command of subject
Very practical
Good integration of examples while highlighting effective strategies that combat aggressive "Rambo-like" litigators accompanied by a thorough exploration of ethical limitations on where to draw the line when providing zealous advocacy for a client.
Much enjoyed. Thank you.
Outstanding!
This course was excellent.
Mr. Agre did an excellent job balancing both sides of ethical issues.
Excellent presentation filled effortlessly with important information. Impressive faculty.
excellent
Lecturer made the subject interesting with vivid examples, such as the seasoned defense attorney who was being mimicked in front of the jury by a young inexperienced but very aggressive prosecutor. Those kinds of examples make the lessons memorable.
Very helpful
Loved this guy. Practical advice based on real cases and actual experiences are very educational.
Excellent speaker
Ethical scenarios considered that I had not experienced. Rambo lawyer narrative parallels a colleague's experience -- very helpful and practical!!!
Another good ethics CLE course.
Great CLE dealing with Rambo litigators
Instructor cited solid examples that really help make the concepts memorable.
practical and useful
Really excellent
Excellent
A very interesting presentation.
Excellent
presenter was excellent, very interesting
Clear practical advice
Good, concise practical.
good instructor
good
The course is most helpful for trial attorneys.
Very informative lecture. The presenter was really knew his stuff.
explains well
very interesting
program was quite good. Presenter was excellent
He made this course interesting.
An excellent speaker.
Fine presentation
Excellent Presentation
I found this presentation exceptionally outstanding. It was very informative and very thoughtful
a great use of real experiences in the courtroom
Excellent speaker and presentation.
Speaker did an excellent job. Instead of talking about extreme cases of clear ethical violations, he discussed cases a typical lawyer may encounter and how to approach these ethical grey areas.
This is the real deal on how to deal with clients and the ethics behind it. Understanding these concepts is the foundation to becoming a defense attorney worth his salt.
Speaker was great.
addresses numerous issues of ethics encountered in practice
Very helpful.
very good
Very well done - the "real-world" examples were excellent.
Excellent presentation from a very experienced attorney.
A knowledgeable and experienced lawyer with heart! Fabulous!!
Excellent talk
Great course. We have all run into Rambos during our respective practices. Confirmation on how best to deal with them is more than helpful.
