about Beth Alston
Elizabeth A. Alston has maintained a litigation practice in Louisiana since 1980. In 1987, she opened shop as a sole practitioner, and has practiced in that capacity since then.
Beth was appointed by the Louisiana Supreme Court as a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association Committee on Professional Responsibility in 1988. When that committee was transformed into the Disciplinary Board of the Louisiana State Bar Association (now, the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board), she served as vice-chair and chair of the Board in 1991 and 1992.
Since that time, she has been retained by major law firms in Louisiana as well as multi-national law firms, insurance companies, small firms, and sole practitioners to provide detailed ethics opinions. She has also offered opinions in the field of legal ethics in professional liability cases, and has been accepted as an expert in that field in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans, Division "G” and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Middle Louisiana Districts.
She has represented and advised Louisiana lawyers in various aspects of court sanction orders, in federal and state court. She also represents respondents before the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board. On November 7, 2001, Beth participated in a study group held by the Harvard Law School Program on the Legal Profession, on the topic: "The Role of Ethics Advisors in U.S. Law Firms."
In 1996, Beth was appointed by the Louisiana Supreme Court to serve on its Ad Hoc Committee to Examine the Final Report [of the American Bar Association] on the Louisiana Lawyer Regulation System. Beth frequently speaks at seminars on professional responsibility topics. Her publications include the articles “The Louisiana Rules for Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement: A retrospective,” Louisiana Advocates, Volume XXI, Number 7, July 2006, p.10, and "Comply with 'White'" The National Law Journal, Volume 28, No. 32, April 17, 2006.
Beth is a member of the national Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers and the American Bar Association's Center for Professional Responsibility. Beth has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility from 2004 - 2007. This prestigious committee authors formal ethics opinions which are published by the ABA. Beth was the principal author of ABA Formal Opinions 07-449, “Lawyer Concurrently Representing Judge and Litigant Before the Judge in Unrelated Matters,” and 06-438, “Lawyer Proposing to Make or Accept an Aggregate Settlement or Aggregated Agreement.”
Beth is currently serving on the ABA Standing Committee on Professional Discipline (2008 - 2011). This important committee studies lawyer and judicial disciplinary systems, audits them, and propounds ABA Model Rules for their procedures.
Beth is rated "AV" by Martindale-Hubbell.