The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

The premise of this book is that while lawyers are necessary, excessive fees are not. The use of preventive law as the most cost-effective use of lawyers is recommended, that is, obtaining legal advice before there's a problem, in order to avoid costly litigation. A seven-page preventive law checklist is included.

Legal Fees: Law & Management is a comprehensive reference for lawyers, businesses, government agencies, academics, and judges. In the first half of the book, Toothman and Ross summarize the law of legal fees, including the lawyer-client relationship, improper billing practices, fee collection issues, fee shifting, and contingent fees. The second half provides practical advice for managing legal fees, including selection of counsel, retention agreements, budgeting, fee dispute resolution, and bill auditing. "Beyond its explicit billing-related guidance, Legal Fees offers law firm readers valuable insights into the comparative value of various practitioner activities from the client's perspective. By helping lawyers empathize more deeply with client needs, the book should help avert many of the ethical missteps that complex professional rules were intended to restrain... an analytically impressive yet highly readable new book." -- Accounting and Financial Planning for Law Firms, July 2003