Ethics for Lawyer Mediators: Crossing the Line From Jawboning to Dishonesty?
Speaker
David P. Atkins, Visiting Lecturer in Law, Yale Law School
Program Description
On October 15, 2025, the ABA issued Formal Opinion 518, an ethics opinion entitled “A Lawyer’s Duties to Avoid Misleading Communications When Acting as a Third-Party Neutral Mediator.”
Among other things, the authors of the opinion explained how the prohibition on a lawyer
“engaging in dishonesty” applies to a lawyer while acting as a mediator.
This program will run through various hypotheticals in which the goal of the lawyer-mediator in leading the parties to a resolution runs up against his or her duty of honesty; including when describing to one side the demand or offer of the other side.
CLE Credit
1.0 CT CLE (Ethics) pending