(SPANISH) Puerto Rico Ethics: A Comprehensive Guide to the New Rules of Professional Conduct Part Three

This course will only be presented in Spanish.

* Pending Approval

This is Part Three of a three-part ethics program addressing Puerto Rico’s new Rules of Professional Conduct. The course focuses on ethical issues that arise during the attorney-client relationship and on applying the new Rules to matters attorneys routinely encounter in practice.

Topics include engagement agreements and scope of representation, fees and advance payments, third-party payors, handling of client funds and property, joint representations, aggregate settlements, clients with diminished capacity, organizational clients, and internal investigations. The course also addresses client files, withdrawal and termination of representation, succession planning, attorney impairment, and attorneys’ obligations when changing firms or closing a practice.

Practical hypotheticals will be used to consider how the Rules apply in private practice, government service, in-house practice, and small law offices, with particular attention to identifying ethical obligations and addressing issues before they result in conflicts, client disputes, or disciplinary concerns.

The course focuses on the Puerto Rico Rules of Professional Conduct adopted by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico on June 17, 2025, effective January 1, 2026, and is intended to satisfy a portion of the special six-credit requirement applicable to the new Rules.

Learning Objectives:

1. Structure engagement agreements and fee arrangements that clearly define the attorney-client relationship and comply with applicable professional obligations.
2. Identify ethical issues involving advance fees, client funds, disputed funds, third-party payments, and property held in connection with a representation.
3. Analyze ethical considerations involving organizational clients, joint representations, internal investigations, and communications with constituents of an organization.
4. Recognize ethical obligations when representing clients with diminished decision-making capacity.
5. Evaluate settlement-related ethical issues, including authority, client communication, aggregate settlements, and third-party interests.
6. Apply appropriate procedures to client files, record retention, termination of representation, attorney departures, and law office succession.
7. Identify professional responsibility concerns arising from attorney impairment, incapacity, or interruption of a legal practice.
8. Apply the new Rules to practical ethical issues that arise throughout the attorney-client relationship.