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Client Communication and Withdrawal After ABA Formal Opinion 516

Master ABA Opinions 516 and 523—draft withdrawal-proof engagement letters, spot problem clients early, and exit representations cleanly while protecting your fees, clients, and license.
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2026-07-22 13:00:00

2 hours

Jayne Reardon

FisherBroyles, LLP

Khasim Lockhart

Frankfurt Kurnit Klein + Selz PC

View speakers

Program Details

2026-07-22 13:00:00

2026-07-22 13:00:00

2h CLE Credits

2026-07-22 13:00:00

2 hours

See credits by state

Jayne Reardon

FisherBroyles, LLP

Khasim Lockhart

Frankfurt Kurnit Klein + Selz PC

View speakers

Program Details

2026-07-22 13:00:00

Program Details

2026-07-22 13:00:00

Over 1,000+ webinars

2026-07-22 13:00:00

2 hours

Course Overview

Your Right to Withdraw Was Decided at Intake

2026-07-22 13:00:00

For decades, lawyers treated permissive withdrawal as an endgame question — something to analyze only after a relationship soured. ABA Formal Opinion 516 (April 2025) collapsed that assumption: whether withdrawal inflicts a “material adverse effect” under Rule 1.16(b)(1) now turns on the legal objectives the lawyer agreed to pursue, the matter’s forward progress, and the client’s cost of transitioning to successor counsel — variables fixed largely at engagement.

Opinion 523 (May 2026) raises the stakes further, confirming that obligations memorialized in the engagement letter beyond fee payment can themselves ground withdrawal under Rule 1.16(b)(5). Lawyers running matters on legacy templates — boilerplate scope, no withdrawal provisions, no codified communication commitments — are exposed every time a representation needs to end, and communication failures remain a leading source of bar complaints.

This session delivers the drafting frameworks both Opinions reward: scope and withdrawal clauses, Rule 1.4 update-cadence protocols, the three endorsed remediation steps, and Rule 1.16(d) wind-down mechanics. Attendees will leave able to structure engagements that preserve the exit — and execute it cleanly when the time comes.

Format

CLE Credit

2h CLE Credits

Level

Intermediate

Length

2

Key topics that will be covered

01
Withdrawal framework
Opinion 516’s material adverse effect framework is defined at the engagement letter stage.
02
Engagement drafting
Drafting scope, withdrawal provisions, and file closure practices that reduce withdrawal risk.
03
Red flags
Spotting difficult-client red flags at intake and mid-matter that ripen into withdrawal grounds.
04
Executing withdrawal
Notice, tribunal permission, Rule 1.16(d) obligations, and the Opinion’s three endorsed remediation steps.
05
Client communication
Rule 1.4 duties, update cadence commitments, and documentation trails defeating malpractice claims.
06
Opinion 523
Permissive withdrawal under Rule 1.16(b)(5) when clients fail to fulfill memorialized obligations.

Program schedule

clock 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EST

Intake to Exit: Minimizing Withdrawal Risk Under ABA Opinion 516

This session examines how ABA Formal Opinion 516 redefines permissive withdrawal under Rule 1.16(b)(1), showing attorneys how engagement letters, intake screening, and matter lifecycle practices reduce withdrawal risk — and how to execute a clean, compliant exit.

Jayne ReardonJayne Reardon
Khasim LockhartKhasim Lockhart
clock 2:10 pm - 3:10 pm EST

Client Communication and Permissive Withdrawal

This session covers Model Rule 1.4 communication duties — update cadence, documentation trails, and engagement letter commitments — alongside permissive withdrawal under ABA Formal Opinions 516 and 523, including material adverse effect analysis and Rule 1.16(d) wind-down obligations.

Jayne ReardonJayne Reardon
Khasim LockhartKhasim Lockhart
Jayne Reardon

Jayne Reardon

FisherBroyles, LLP

Khasim Lockhart

Khasim Lockhart

Frankfurt Kurnit Klein + Selz PC

Jayne Reardon

Jayne Reardon

FisherBroyles, LLP

Jayne Reardon is a nationally recognized authority on legal ethics and professionalism who counsels lawyers and legal service providers on ethics, risk management, and regulatory matters. A partner in FisherBroyles’ Chicago office, she also serves as the firm’s Deputy General Counsel and chairs its Arbitration & Mediation practice. An experienced trial lawyer, she has tried cases in state and federal courts across Illinois, with appellate work reaching the United States Supreme Court, and she speaks nationally on the regulation of law practice, including remote working and the unauthorized practice of law.

Education & Credentials

Jayne earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan in 1983 and her B.S. from the University of Notre Dame in 1979, and she has completed arbitration and mediation trainings through the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation. She is admitted to practice in Illinois, before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and before the United States Supreme Court.

Recognition & Leadership

Jayne has been recognized nationally for her work in professional responsibility. She received the Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award, the highest lifetime honor conferred by the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility, and she was appointed to chair the ABA's Standing Committee on Professionalism for three consecutive years. She sits on the national rosters of the American Arbitration Association for Commercial and Consumer Arbitration and is a certified neutral in the Early Dispute Resolution Process.

Professional Involvement

Jayne is active across the organized bar. Within the American Bar Association, she serves on the Law Practice Division's Ethics & Professional Responsibility Committee and the Working Group on Reforms to Advertising Rules, and she formerly chaired the Center for Professional Responsibility's Standing Committee on Professionalism. Her memberships also include the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, the Illinois State Bar Association (Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution), the Chicago Bar Association (Professional Responsibility Committee), and the Women's Bar Association of Illinois, and she previously served on the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being. She has delivered hundreds of CLE and other educational programs to law firms, law students, judges, and bar associations across Illinois and nationally, on topics including the unauthorized practice of law, remote working, conflicts of interest, the ethics of technology and artificial intelligence in the legal profession, and reform of legal regulations. Her publications include “Can Bots Commit UPL?” and “Does the Adoption of the Uniform Bar Examination Foreshadow Uniform Regulation.

Experience

Jayne's public-service experience includes serving as Executive Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, an organization dedicated to promoting ethics and professionalism among lawyers and judges, and as disciplinary counsel for the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. Her prior law firm experience includes Kelley Drye & Warren and Locke Lord (formerly Wildman Harrold Allen & Dixon). At FisherBroyles she practices in arbitration and mediation, commercial litigation, cyber-risk, privacy and data security, legal ethics and professional responsibility, litigation and risk management, and professional and management liability.
Khasim Lockhart

Khasim Lockhart

Frankfurt Kurnit Klein + Selz PC

Khasim Lockhart is an associate in Frankfurt Kurnit’s Litigation Group whose practice focuses on entertainment, intellectual property, employment, legal ethics, and professional responsibility. A rising voice in legal ethics and professional responsibility litigation, he pairs substantial commercial litigation experience with a national profile as a CLE presenter on the ethical implications of artificial intelligence in legal practice.

Education & Credentials

Mr. Lockhart received his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 2018, with a concentration in Intellectual Property, where his honors included the Eugene J. Keefe Award, the Archibald R. Murray Public Service Award, the Northeast Region of the National Black Law Students Association's Chapter President of the Year Award, service as Associate Editor of the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal, and captaining the championship team at the Pepperdine Entertainment Law Competition for Fordham Law Moot Court. He earned his B.A., cum laude, from Binghamton University, State University of New York, in 2014, and is admitted to practice in the State of New York and the Southern District of New York.

Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Lockhart serves as Co-Chair of Frankfurt Kurnit's Racial Justice Task Force. His honors include recognition by Best Lawyers in America on its 2026 "Ones to Watch" list for Litigation – Intellectual Property; as a "Rising Star" in the New York Law Journal's 2023 New York Legal Awards; by Lawyers of Color on its 2022 Hot List and as a 2023 Law Firm Diversity Professional; and by Super Lawyers as a 2024 and 2025 "Rising Star" in Litigation, Entertainment & Sports, Intellectual Property, and Professional Liability. Fordham University School of Law has recognized him as an alumnus "making history now" and as a 2024 alumni "Trailblazer."

Professional Involvement

Mr. Lockhart is an adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law, where he teaches Peer Mentoring and Leadership. A frequent CLE presenter, he has spoken on evolving ethical responsibility in the AI age, the legal ethics of generative and agentic AI, ethics for new and IP lawyers, and diversity and inclusion in the profession before organizations including the New York City Bar, the New York State Bar Association, the Federal Bar Council, the New York Women's Bar Association, Lawline, and Fordham Law School's Bridge the Gap programs. His commentary and writing have appeared in Above the Law, American Bar Association publications, Law360, and the New York State Bar Association Journal. Outside the law, he is an active musician with music on all major streaming platforms.

Experience

Mr. Lockhart represents clients across entertainment, intellectual property, employment, legal ethics, and professional responsibility matters, and brings substantial commercial litigation experience spanning securities, real estate, insurance, and general commercial contract disputes. Prior to joining Frankfurt Kurnit, he was a litigation associate at Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP.
Jayne Reardon

Jayne Reardon

FisherBroyles, LLP

Jayne Reardon is a nationally recognized authority on legal ethics and professionalism who counsels lawyers and legal service providers on ethics, risk management, and regulatory matters. A partner in FisherBroyles’ Chicago office, she also serves as the firm’s Deputy General Counsel and chairs its Arbitration & Mediation practice. An experienced trial lawyer, she has tried cases in state and federal courts across Illinois, with appellate work reaching the United States Supreme Court, and she speaks nationally on the regulation of law practice, including remote working and the unauthorized practice of law.

Education & Credentials

Jayne earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan in 1983 and her B.S. from the University of Notre Dame in 1979, and she has completed arbitration and mediation trainings through the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation. She is admitted to practice in Illinois, before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and before the United States Supreme Court.

Recognition & Leadership

Jayne has been recognized nationally for her work in professional responsibility. She received the Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award, the highest lifetime honor conferred by the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility, and she was appointed to chair the ABA's Standing Committee on Professionalism for three consecutive years. She sits on the national rosters of the American Arbitration Association for Commercial and Consumer Arbitration and is a certified neutral in the Early Dispute Resolution Process.

Professional Involvement

Jayne is active across the organized bar. Within the American Bar Association, she serves on the Law Practice Division's Ethics & Professional Responsibility Committee and the Working Group on Reforms to Advertising Rules, and she formerly chaired the Center for Professional Responsibility's Standing Committee on Professionalism. Her memberships also include the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, the Illinois State Bar Association (Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution), the Chicago Bar Association (Professional Responsibility Committee), and the Women's Bar Association of Illinois, and she previously served on the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being. She has delivered hundreds of CLE and other educational programs to law firms, law students, judges, and bar associations across Illinois and nationally, on topics including the unauthorized practice of law, remote working, conflicts of interest, the ethics of technology and artificial intelligence in the legal profession, and reform of legal regulations. Her publications include “Can Bots Commit UPL?” and “Does the Adoption of the Uniform Bar Examination Foreshadow Uniform Regulation.

Experience

Jayne's public-service experience includes serving as Executive Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, an organization dedicated to promoting ethics and professionalism among lawyers and judges, and as disciplinary counsel for the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. Her prior law firm experience includes Kelley Drye & Warren and Locke Lord (formerly Wildman Harrold Allen & Dixon). At FisherBroyles she practices in arbitration and mediation, commercial litigation, cyber-risk, privacy and data security, legal ethics and professional responsibility, litigation and risk management, and professional and management liability.
Khasim Lockhart

Khasim Lockhart

Frankfurt Kurnit Klein + Selz PC

Khasim Lockhart is an associate in Frankfurt Kurnit’s Litigation Group whose practice focuses on entertainment, intellectual property, employment, legal ethics, and professional responsibility. A rising voice in legal ethics and professional responsibility litigation, he pairs substantial commercial litigation experience with a national profile as a CLE presenter on the ethical implications of artificial intelligence in legal practice.

Education & Credentials

Mr. Lockhart received his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 2018, with a concentration in Intellectual Property, where his honors included the Eugene J. Keefe Award, the Archibald R. Murray Public Service Award, the Northeast Region of the National Black Law Students Association's Chapter President of the Year Award, service as Associate Editor of the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal, and captaining the championship team at the Pepperdine Entertainment Law Competition for Fordham Law Moot Court. He earned his B.A., cum laude, from Binghamton University, State University of New York, in 2014, and is admitted to practice in the State of New York and the Southern District of New York.

Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Lockhart serves as Co-Chair of Frankfurt Kurnit's Racial Justice Task Force. His honors include recognition by Best Lawyers in America on its 2026 "Ones to Watch" list for Litigation – Intellectual Property; as a "Rising Star" in the New York Law Journal's 2023 New York Legal Awards; by Lawyers of Color on its 2022 Hot List and as a 2023 Law Firm Diversity Professional; and by Super Lawyers as a 2024 and 2025 "Rising Star" in Litigation, Entertainment & Sports, Intellectual Property, and Professional Liability. Fordham University School of Law has recognized him as an alumnus "making history now" and as a 2024 alumni "Trailblazer."

Professional Involvement

Mr. Lockhart is an adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law, where he teaches Peer Mentoring and Leadership. A frequent CLE presenter, he has spoken on evolving ethical responsibility in the AI age, the legal ethics of generative and agentic AI, ethics for new and IP lawyers, and diversity and inclusion in the profession before organizations including the New York City Bar, the New York State Bar Association, the Federal Bar Council, the New York Women's Bar Association, Lawline, and Fordham Law School's Bridge the Gap programs. His commentary and writing have appeared in Above the Law, American Bar Association publications, Law360, and the New York State Bar Association Journal. Outside the law, he is an active musician with music on all major streaming platforms.

Experience

Mr. Lockhart represents clients across entertainment, intellectual property, employment, legal ethics, and professional responsibility matters, and brings substantial commercial litigation experience spanning securities, real estate, insurance, and general commercial contract disputes. Prior to joining Frankfurt Kurnit, he was a litigation associate at Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP.

Credits by state

AK2.0
AL2.0
AR2.0
AZ2.0
CA2.0
CO2.0
CT2.0
DC2.0
DE2.0
FL2.0
GA2.0
HI2.0
IA2.0
ID2.0
IL2.0
IN2.0
KS2.0
KY2.0
LA2.0
MA2.0
MD2.0
ME2.0
MI2.0
MN2.0
MO2.4
MS2.0
MT2.0
NC2.0
ND2.0
NE2.0
NH120.0
NJ2.4
NM2.0
NV2.0
NY2.0
OH2.0
OK2.5
OR2.0
PA2.0
RI2.5
SC2.0
SD2.0
TN2.0
TX2.0
UT2.0
VA2.0
VT2.0
WA2.0
WI2.0
WV2.4
WY2.0

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1000+

Live stream programs

24/7

Access to live webinars & recordings

70,000+

Trusted by Legal Professionals

1000+

Live stream programs

24/7

Access to live webinars & recordings

10,000+

Trusted by Legal Professionals

1000+

Live stream programs

24/7

Access to live webinars & recordings

70,000+

Trusted by Legal Professionals

MCLE Credits

Alabama
Approved
2 Ethics
Alaska
Approved
2 Ethics
iOur programs are CLE-eligible through Alaska’s recognition of multi-jurisdictional reciprocity.
Arizona
Approved
2 Professional Responsibility/Ethics
Arkansas
Approved
2 Ethics
California
Approved
2 Ethics
Colorado
Pending
2 Ethics / Professionalism
Connecticut
Approved
2 Ethics / Professionalism
Delaware
Pending
2 Enhanced Ethics
District of Columbia
No Required
2 CLE Hour(s)
Florida
Pending
2 Ethics
Georgia
Pending
2 Ethics
Hawaii
Approved
2 Ethics or Professional Responsibility Education
Idaho
Pending
2 Ethics / Professionalism
Illinois
Approved
2 Ethics
Indiana
Approved
2 Ethics
Iowa
Pending
2 Ethics
Kansas
Pending
2 Ethics / Professionalism
Kentucky
Pending
2 Ethics
Louisiana
Pending
2 Ethics
Maine
Pending
2 General
Maryland
No Required
2 CLE Hour(s)
Massachusetts
No Required
2 CLE Hour(s)
Michigan
No Required
2 CLE Hour(s)
Minnesota
Pending
2 Ethics
Mississippi
Pending
2 Ethics
Missouri
Approved
2.4 Ethics
Montana
Pending
2 Professional Fitness and Integrity
Nebraska
Pending
2 Professional Responsibility
imyLawCLE reports attendance to Nebraska on each attorney’s behalf for all programs. Please do not self-report.
Nevada
Approved
2 Ethics / Professionalism
New Hampshire
Approved
120 Ethics / Professionalism minutes
iAs of July 1, 2014, the NHMCLE Board no longer provides pre- or post-approval of courses. Attendees must self-determine whether a program is eligible for credit, and self-report their attendance online at www.nhbar.org, based on qualification provisions of Rule 53.
New Jersey
Approved
2.4 Ethics / Professionalism
iOur programs are CLE-eligible through New Jersey’s recognition of multi-jurisdictional reciprocity, except for the courses required under BCLE Reg. 201:2
New Mexico
Approved
2 Ethics / Professionalism
New York
Approved
2 Ethics / Professionalism
iOur programs are CLE-eligible through New York’s Approved Jurisdiction Group “B”.
North Carolina
Pending
2 Ethics
North Dakota
Approved
2 Ethics
iOur programs are CLE-eligible through North Dakota’s recognition of multi-jurisdictional reciprocity. Section 1, Policy 1.14
Ohio
Approved
2 Professional Conduct
Oklahoma
Pending
2.5 Ethics / Professionalism
Oregon
Pending
2 Ethics
Pennsylvania
Approved
2 Ethics / Professionalism
Rhode Island
Pending
2.5 Ethics / Professionalism
South Carolina
Pending
2 Ethics / Professionalism
South Dakota
No Required
2 CLE Hour(s)
Tennessee
Approved
2 Dual
Texas
Approved
2 Ethics / Professionalism
Utah
Pending
2 Ethics / Professionalism
Vermont
Approved
2 Ethics
Virginia
Not Eligible
2 Ethics / Professionalism Hours
Washington
Approved
2 Ethics Hours
iReceive CLE credit in Washington via attorney submission.
West Virginia
Pending
2.4 Ethics / Professionalism
Wisconsin
Approved
2 General
Wyoming
Pending
2 Ethics / Professionalism

Alabama

Requirements

The Alabama State Bar MCLE Commission requires attorneys to complete 12 credits, including 1 ethics, by December 31 of each year. All credits must be reported by February 15 of the following year. A maximum of 12 credits, including 1 ethics credit, may be carried over for 1 year only.  

Formats

  • Attorneys can earn unlimited “live” credit through live seminars, live webcasts, and co-sponsored locations with MyLAWCLE-Alabama approved programs
  • Attorneys are limited to 6 credits per compliance period of “online” programs through MyLAwCLE On-Demand programs