AHLA Legal Ethics Bundle

CLE Hours: 4.25

Earn the ethics credits you need before your next compliance deadline!

This on-demand offering brings together four timely and practical sessions designed to equip health care lawyers with the ethical frameworks, tools, and strategies needed to navigate today's most pressing legal ethics challenges. From the rapid rise of generative AI in legal practice to the complex responsibilities of in-house counsel facing corporate misconduct, this course addresses real-world ethical dilemmas through hypotheticals, fact patterns, and emerging professional guidance. Attorneys will gain insight into upholding ethical obligations while meeting the evolving demands of health care law practice.

Participants will be able to:

• Analyze foundational ethical principles governing AI use in legal health care settings and apply them to complex scenarios.
• Evaluate the role of in-house counsel as a gatekeeper in preventing, discouraging, investigating, and disclosing corporate misconduct.
• Identify and respond to real-world ethical lapses in legal practice, including improper communications, conflicts arising from competing legal advice, and the use of internal documentation to protect attorneys and clients.
• Assess emerging ethical challenges posed by generative AI, recent confidentiality guidance, attorney limitations by contract, and issues arising when lawyers serve as third-party neutrals.

The Lawyer's Role in Legal Ethical AI Use

This session explores the ethical principles governing AI use in both law and medicine, equipping health care attorneys with a foundational understanding of responsible AI practice. By the end of the session, participants will be equipped with practical solutions and tools for responsible AI implementation. Participants will be able to:

• Analyze common ethical principles governing AI use in both law and medicine.
• Evaluate a series of hypotheticals involving legal, medical, and environmental issues to determine the appropriate ethical course of action for each scenario.
• Apply ethical frameworks to AI use in health care settings and construct approaches for building institutional consensus around responsible AI adoption.

Legal Ethical Issues for In-House Attorneys in Preventing and Discouraging Corporate Misconduct

In-house counsel are often the gatekeepers to prevent, discourage, investigate, and disclose corporate misconduct. This session utilizes a fact pattern scenario involving alleged violations of the Stark law and the False Claims Act to examine an attorney's role and the potential attorney ethics rules that are implicated in this role. The session examines multiple professional rules of conduct, including:

• ABA Model Rule 1.13 – Organization as Client
• ABA Model Rule 1.16 – Declining or Terminating Representation
• ABA Model Rule 1.6 – Confidentiality
• Counsel "going up the ladder" when the client ignores the advice
• Options for counsel when the client refuses to follow legal advice

Real-Life Legal Ethical Dilemmas Facing Health Care Lawyers

Legal practice is rarely straightforward, and health care lawyers are no stranger to the ethical complexities that arise in real-world practice. This session examines both intentional and unintentional ethical lapses that attorneys may encounter, including improper ex parte communications with judges or opposing clients, and explores how lawyers should respond when these situations arise. Attendees will also examine strategies for staying current with evolving professional standards, maintaining competency in new technologies and data tools, and ensuring proper technical support for complex cases. Participants will be able to:

• Evaluate intentional and unintentional ethical lapses in legal practice and construct appropriate responses to situations involving improper ex parte communications with judges.
• Design strategies for maintaining professional competence in new technologies and data tools to ensure proper technical support in complex cases.
• Apply ethical frameworks to navigate client relationships from other sources or shopping for advice clients would like.
• Assess the role internal documentation can play in protecting both attorneys and clients.

Hot Topics in Legal Ethics: 2026 Edition

This session examines the most pressing legal ethics issues facing attorneys in 2026, including the ethical challenges posed by generative AI, recent confidentiality guidance, the implications of contractually limiting professional discretion, and the unique responsibilities that arise when lawyers serve as third-party neutrals. Participants will be able to:

• Identify and navigate emerging ethical challenges posed by generative AI in legal practice, including issues of competence, confidentiality, and the unauthorized practice of law when using AI tools for research, drafting, and client communication.
• Apply recent guidance on protecting client confidentiality to practice scenarios, including situations when filing withdrawal motions.
• Assess the ethical implications when attorneys contractually agree to limit their professional discretion.
• Examine the issues that arise when lawyers act as third-party neutrals.