Description

In this course Ronald Minkoff, a noted expert in the area of attorney ethics and professional responsibility, provides a guided tour through the various conflict of interest provisions of the Model Rules and the New York Code of Professional Responsibility. Using problems based on real life experiences, Mr. Minkoff explores such issues as, when is there a conflict between those forming a new business? Is a client a current client or a former client? Has a proper waiver been obtained? The course goes far beyond the rules themselves, delving into forefront issues raised by recent cases, including attorney screening and corporate family conflicts.

Ronald C. Minkoff, Esq.

Ronald C. Minkoff, Esq., is a partner in the Litigation Group at Frankfurt, Kurnit, Klein & Selz. He handles a wide variety of commercial litigation, both simple and complex, including business break-ups, partnership disputes, securities lawsuits, and domestic and international trade disputes. He has conducted many successful trials and arbitrations and engineered numerous cost-effective settlements. Mr. Minkoff was recently named a fellow of the prestigious Litigation Counsel of America. He was also named a New York-area “Super Lawyer” for Business Litigation work by Law and Politics magazine in 2007 and 2006.

Mr. Minkoff represents businesses and individual professionals and executives. He currently represents securities professionals being sued by customers for losses in energy, dot.com, and telecommunications stocks. He represents several law firm partners in partnership disputes. And he represents an internationally known petro chemist in an oil and gas venture dispute. In the past, Mr. Minkoff served as lead counsel and successfully defended 40 garment manufacturers against civil fraud allegations by a well-known factor. He won dismissal of a RICO and antitrust lawsuit brought against several stamp auction houses; and he represented the Republic of Ecuador in a class-action lawsuit brought by Ecuadorian citizens against Texaco for alleged environmental damage.

Mr. Minkoff is also one of New York State’s leading practitioners in the field of attorney ethics and professional responsibility, representing attorneys in a wide variety of matters including partnership disputes, disciplinary cases, and malpractice and intentional tort actions. He is Adjunct Professor of Professional Responsibility at Brooklyn Law School, Chair of the Joint Subcommittee on the Model Code of Judicial Conduct of the New York City Bar, a member of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Professionalism, and a past President of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. He is a member of the Media Law Resource Center (MLRC) ethics committee and has written extensively for the New York Professional Responsibility Report, The Professional Lawyer, The New York Law Journal, and other publications. Mr. Minkoff is a frequent lecturer on the law of lawyering -- including the attorney-client privilege, New York Judiciary Law § 487 claims, the ethical duties of lawyers serving as directors, multijurisdictional practice, and the obligations of departing law partners.

Mr. Minkoff has his J.D. Degree from Columbia Law School, Class of 1980. He was an attorney at the Nassau County Legal Aid Society (1980-83), and was associated with Obermaier Morvillo & Abramowitz, P.C. (1983-85) and Owen & Fennell (1985-87). Mr. Minkoff was a member of Fennell & Minkoff (1987-94) and Beldock Levine & Hoffman (1994-2001) before joining Frankfurt Kurnit.