December 15 – Ethics
Questions to an Ethics Hotline

This presentation will cover questions regularly raised by local government lawyers about the Rules of Professional Conduct and discuss how and which Rules answer such questions.  The presentation will generally cover several of the ABA Model Rules having particular applicability to local government lawyers, including the Preamble and Scope and Rules 1.0 through 1.11, 1.13, 1.16, 1.18, Rules 3.1 through 3.5 and Rules 3.8 and 3.9, Rules 5.1 through 5.4 and Rules 8.3 and 8.4 to the extent time allows.  The program anticipates that lawyers attending the program will have a better appreciation of how the Ruled of Professional Conduct apply in various situations that can regularly arise in the course of representing a local government client, how best to address their conduct in responding to those situations and what their duties and responsibilities are to the court and the bar.

Speakers: Charles W. Thompson, Jr.

Charles W. Thompson, Jr. is currently on the staff of IMLA serving as Of Counsel.  Before assuming this role, Mr. Thompson served for fifteen years as the Executive Director and General Counsel of the International Municipal Lawyers Association. Prior to IMLA, Mr. Thompson served as County Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland from 1995 to 2006. For the previous 17 years, Mr. Thompson served as County Attorney for Carroll County, Maryland. Mr. Thompson received a bachelor’s degree in history from Virginia Military Institute and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law. For over twenty years through 2021, Mr. Thompson served as an adjunct professor at the George Washington University, National Law Center, teaching State and Local Government Law. Mr. Thompson is admitted to practice in Maryland, the U.S. District Court for Maryland, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Thompson was awarded the ABA, Section of State and Local Government Law Jefferson Fordham Advocacy Award in 2011 and its Daniel Curtin Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021 and in 2021 he was recognized by IMLA with its highest honor, the Charles S. Rhyne Award.