Professional responsibility is at the core of delivering effective legal services. Paralegals are expected to obey the ethics rules by which their lawyer employers are bound. To help paralegals stay on top of ethics issues, the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility has updated The Paralegal's Guide to Professional Responsibility. The sixth edition reviews the ethics issues that are relevant to paralegals, legal assistants, secretaries, and other employees of law firms, corporations, and law-related organizations and offers guidance that can be adapted to practice in any jurisdiction. This edition encompasses all recent changes to the Model Rules, along with updated references to court decisions and other resources. Subjects include:

• What constitutes the unauthorized practice of law


• What a lawyer cannot delegate to a paralegal


• The issues of competence and diligence in a paralegal's work


• The paralegal and confidentiality


• Conflicts of interest


• Client funds and property


• Advertising


• Legal fees and employee compensation


• Develop ethics research skills

In addition to a thorough examination of the Model Rules as they relate to paralegals, the Guide provides an introduction to basic texts and materials used in legal ethics research and includes:

• Concise explanations of the law of professional responsibility


• Tools for identifying and resolving ethical problems


• Practical tips to use in everyday practice


• A method for categorizing most legal ethics materials


• Time-saving features and appendices