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FLMIC offers COVID-19 ethics checklist for Florida lawyers

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FLMICFlorida Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company (FLMIC) has created a COVID-19 ethics checklist for Florida lawyers for thinking through the challenge of client representation during a public health crisis.

“As schools close, major corporations send their workforces home, and local governments contemplate curfews and lockdowns, the novel coronavirus is impacting nearly every corner of community in America — including the legal community here in Florida,” FLMIC, a company originally created by The Florida Bar, says on a statement posted on its website. “Like anyone else, lawyers must tend to all of the pandemic’s disruptions to daily life: changes in travel plans, transitioning to home offices, grocery shopping for essentials, helping aging family members prepare, and so on. But in the midst of all these things, a lawyer’s ethical duties still stand, unwavering in the face of a mounting public health crisis.”

To help lawyers understand their obligations in the context of COVID-19, FLMIC has published its COVID-19 Checklist for Florida Lawyers.

“While it cannot take the place of a careful review of the ethics rules and applicable laws, we hope it will serve as a general guide for thinking through the challenge of client representation during a public health crisis,” FLMIC said.

The Florida Bar has also added an FAQ page on ethics concerns regarding the coronavirus crisis. The Bar’s Ethics Hotline will be available from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This service is reserved for members of the Bar in good standing. The hotline has very limited staffing at this time, so you may experience a long hold time. Please defer non-emergency calls until Bar offices re-open.

Ethics Professor Timothy P. Chinaris has volunteered to answer ethics questions for free while The Florida Bar’s Ethics Hotline is limited. Please visit www.sunethics.com for more information. Professor Chinaris is not affiliated with The Florida Bar’s Ethics Hotline.

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