New Attorney Ethics Standards to Take Effect in New York

A new code of conduct for New York attorneys that goes into effect Wednesday should largely be familiar to lawyers who have practiced under the old standards, according to the chairman of the State Bar committee that began developing the new code nearly six years ago. But a member of the State Bar committee said new rules requiring lawyers to reveal client falsehoods "clashes with the common-law concept of the lawyer-client confidentiality," and predicted those rules' validity would be litigated in the courts.