Professional Responsibility -- Author Information

Paul W. Vapnek Of Counsel Townsend and Townsend and Crew. He specializes in all phases of intellectual property law, including litigation and prosecution of patents and trademarks, and State Bar disciplinary matters. He counsels lawyers and law firms, and acts as an expert witness in legal malpractice and professional responsibility matters.

Mr. Vapnek received his J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1964.

Mr. Vapnek has chaired the State Bar Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct, as well as the Bar Association of San Francisco Ethics Committee. He was the first Editor in Chief of the California Compendium on Professional Responsibility and was a member of the State Bar Commission to revise the Rules of Professional Conduct. He has taught professional responsibility at Hastings College of the Law and written and lectured widely on professional responsibility issues. He is a frequent Rutter Group panelist.

Mark L. Tuft is a managing partner and trial lawyer at Cooper, White & Cooper. He serves as outside counsel to lawyers and law firms on professional responsibility, professional liability and practice management issues, and also acts as an expert witness in these matters. His trial practice includes media and First Amendment law, insurance and commercial litigation. He received his J.D. from Hastings College of the Law in 1968 and his L.L.M. from George Washington University in 1972.

Mr. Tuft is co-Vice-Chair of the State Bar Commission on the revision to the Rules of Professional Conduct. He is former Chair and special advisor to the State Bar Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct and is a member of the State Bar Task Forces on Multi-Disciplinary Practice and AB 1101 (CRPC 3-100). Mr. Tuft teaches Professional Responsibility as an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco Schoolof Law. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco and formerly chaired its ethics committee. He is also a member of the ABA Center on Professional Responsibility, the International Bar Association, and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, and lectures and writes on legal ethics.

Ellen R. Peck, is a past Chair of the State Bar's Committee on Professional responsibility and Conduct. Between 1989 and 1995, Ms. Peck served as one of the nine judges on the State Bar Court and as Assistant Supervising Judge between 1992 and 1993. Among her many other achievements, she has served as Ethics Counsel to the State Bar's and the ABA's ethics committee and as former Director of the State Bar's Office of Professional Standards. Judge Peck implemented the State Bar's Ethics Hotline and was managing editor of the California Compendium on Professional Responsibility. She currently serves on the State Bar Commission for the Revision of the Rules of Professional Conduct and on the San Diego County Bar Association's Legal Ethics Committee.

Ms. Peck earned her law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1979, and teaches Professional Responsibility at Concord University School of Law.

Currently in private practice with an emphasis on legal malpractice, fee disputes, conflicts of interest, law firm disputes and State Bar disciplinary matters, Ms. Peck serves as an advocate, expert witness, arbitrator and mediator in a variety of litigation and nonlitigation matters. She also participates regularly in Rutter Group program on professional responsibility.

Justice Howard B. Wiener (Ret.), former Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division One, has vast experience both as a litigator and a judge. He practiced law in Los Angeles County for almost 20 years before he was appointed to the San Bernardino Superior Court in 1975. After three years, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal, where he served for over 15 years.

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Justice Wiener received an L.L.M. in 1982 from the University of Virginia Law School.

As a member of the California State Bar Board of Governors, Justice Wiener participated in drafting the Rules of Professional Conduct promulgated in 1975. He taught Professional Responsibility for several years as an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego Law School. He also taught at the California Western School of Law. He is a member of the State Bar’s Commission on Multi-Disciplinary Practice, and participates regularly in Rutter Group programs. Justice Wiener is presently engaged in private dispute resolution.