Legal Ethics

  • February 20, 2024

    Los Angeles FBI Head, Recused From Girardi Case, Retires

    The head of the FBI's Los Angeles office, who recused himself from investigations into indicted ex-lawyer Tom Girardi, has retired after nearly a year and a half in the post, the agency said Tuesday.

  • February 20, 2024

    Law Firm Wins Unredacted Deal Info In NJ Malpractice Fight

    A law firm has prevailed in a discovery battle against a sibling duo suing it for malpractice in New Jersey state court with a ruling that the plaintiffs must provide unredacted info about the settlement they reached in the underlying suit that the firm allegedly mishandled for them.

  • February 20, 2024

    Alito 'Concerned' Jurors Can Be Axed For Religious Beliefs

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said Tuesday he is "concerned" about the prospect of potential jurors being dismissed because of their religious beliefs, as the justices declined to hear a case in which Christian jurors were excused over their views on homosexuality.

  • February 20, 2024

    Posner Says Ex-Staffer's 'Lies' Warrant Harsh Sanctions

    Retired Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner is asking an Indiana federal judge to impose "the most severe sanctions" against a noted pro se litigant who claims Posner reneged on a promise to pay him to run a short-lived pro bono services organization, saying the man has repeatedly lied during litigation and improperly accused opposing counsel of perjury.

  • February 20, 2024

    No Coverage For Firm In Haiti Malpractice Suit, Insurer Says

    An insurance company has asked a Washington federal court to declare it does not have to cover a Seattle law firm facing a $31 million New York federal malpractice case stemming from its representation of a Haitian agency in a petroleum contract arbitration, arguing the firm breached the insurance agreement by lying on its application.

  • February 20, 2024

    NC Panel Reverses Suspension For Atty Accused Of Lying

    A North Carolina personal injury attorney on Tuesday succeeded in reversing a one-year suspension of his license after a state appellate panel ruled the State Bar failed to show he intentionally lied about discussing a fellow attorney's personal life with a client.

  • February 20, 2024

    High Court Denies Review Of Wrestler Attorney Sanctions

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review a petition from an attorney seeking to vacate a $312,000 sanctions order over his representation of former wrestlers over brain injuries they suffered while working for World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.

  • February 20, 2024

    High Court Declines To Review Trump Attorney Sanctions

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to review onetime Trump lawyer Sidney Powell's and six other attorneys' claims that they were wrongly sanctioned and referred for bar discipline for filing a frivolous challenge to Michigan's 2020 presidential election results.

  • February 17, 2024

    Suspended Pa. Judge Charged With Shooting Ex-Boyfriend

    A Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, magisterial judge already suspended for alleged ethics violations has been charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault for allegedly shooting her ex-boyfriend in the head while he slept, police and prosecutors said.

  • February 16, 2024

    Atty Convicted Of $5.5M Client Theft Asks 9th Circ. To Vacate

    The prosecution of a former California personal injury attorney sent to jail for 12 years for embezzling as much as $5.5 million in clients' settlement money was riddled with error, and his conviction and sentence should be vacated, his counsel told the Ninth Circuit at a hearing Friday.

  • February 16, 2024

    Drugs, Sex, Antisemitism Top Complaint Against Calif. Judge

    A California state judge is facing an ethics complaint that accuses him of using a cannabis oil vape pen, pantomiming "something similar to a lap dance" on a woman married to a local public defender and repeatedly calling another public defender an antisemitic slur during a camping trip.

  • February 16, 2024

    Mayer Brown Denies Knowing Of 'Disturbing' Flint PR Effort

    A Mayer Brown LLP partner representing Veolia North America, the water engineering firm facing negligence claims from children exposed to lead in Flint, Michigan, told a Michigan federal judge Friday that his team didn't know about Veolia's public relations campaign disparaging the children's counsel, a campaign the judge labeled a "disturbing development."

  • February 16, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Revives Comcast Patent Case, And Warns Its Atty

    The Federal Circuit on Friday revived a patent suit against Comcast over voice recognition technology, finding that a lower court misinterpreted the patents, and reprimanded a Comcast attorney from Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP for exceeding word counts in a brief in a related case.

  • February 16, 2024

    Giuliani's Retrial Bid Stuck In Fight Over Representation

    Rudy Giuliani has still not sought a new trial in his $148 million defamation case, even though a New York bankruptcy judge said nearly a month ago that he would sign off on the request, as his case has become mired in spats over disclosures and who will pay for the former mayor's special counsel.

  • February 16, 2024

    Workday Deputy GC Wants Atty's Bias Suit Tossed

    A deputy general counsel for Workday urged a California federal court to dismiss her from a Black former subordinate's claims of harassment, retaliation and discrimination, arguing that the Maryland-based worker was improperly seeking the protection of California state laws.

  • February 16, 2024

    Quinn Emanuel Can't Collect On LA County's $280K Legal Bill

    A Los Angeles judge on Friday dismissed Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP's lawsuit seeking to collect more than $280,000 in legal bills from Los Angeles County, saying the claims should have been filed in a counter-suit after the defendants sued the firm several years ago.

  • February 16, 2024

    Switchblade Seller Sues Atty Over Police Raid Advice

    An online switchblade seller in Colorado has accused his former attorney of failing to tell him he could sue the government to try to recover inventory taken during a law enforcement raid involving state and federal authorities.

  • February 16, 2024

    Atlanta Atty In YSL RICO Case Arrested On Gang Charges

    An Atlanta defense attorney for a man originally charged as a co-defendant in the racketeering case against rapper Young Thug was arrested Friday on charges that she tipped off a suspect about an arrest warrant against him in an unrelated shooting, the Atlanta Police Department confirmed.

  • February 16, 2024

    Texas Justices Ax ADA's Defamation Suit Against Newspaper

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday reversed a state appellate decision in a case involving a small-town newspaper, an infamous wrongful conviction and a publicly snubbed assistant district attorney, ruling that the case should have been dismissed and that the Polk County Publishing Co.'s characterization of the assistant DA was legal.

  • February 16, 2024

    Ex-Ohio Judge Indefinitely Suspended For Felony Convictions

    The Ohio Supreme Court indefinitely suspended a former judge for the Buckeye State's Marion County Court of Common Pleas Friday, after he was convicted on two felony counts arising from a car crash that occurred while he was still on the bench.

  • February 16, 2024

    Kwok Trustee Files RICO Claims As Judge Extends Deadlines

    Alleging bankruptcy fraud, money laundering and other claims, the Chapter 11 trustee overseeing the $374 million bankruptcy of Chinese exile Ho Wan Kwok has filed a civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations complaint against Kwok's relatives, his onetime attorney and others, including two companies connected to Donald Trump aides.

  • February 16, 2024

    NY AG Tells Firm To Stop Misleading Uber, Lyft Drivers

    New York Attorney General Letitia James' office put a New York City law firm on notice Friday, warning in a cease-and-desist letter that the firm must immediately stop proffering unnecessary legal services to "help" Uber and Lyft drivers secure funds, for a fee, stemming from a November New York Labor Law settlement.

  • February 16, 2024

    Baker Donelson Won't Owe Profits To Ponzi Scheme Victims

    A Mississippi federal judge has limited certain damages Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC may have to pay in a federal receiver's suit claiming the firm allowed a Ponzi scheme to unfold in one of its offices, but left the door open for other types of damages.

  • February 16, 2024

    Client Says NJ Atty's Math Error Cost Him $276K In Divorce

    A New Jersey lawyer and his firm have been hit with a malpractice complaint in state court alleging a mathematical error deprived their former client of around $276,000 in his divorce settlement.

  • February 16, 2024

    Paxton Prosecutor Steps Down After Row Over Pretrial Deal

    One of two appointed prosecutors overseeing a securities fraud case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told a state court judge Friday that he is stepping down from the case, citing a disagreement over whether the state's chief legal officer should be allowed to resolve the charges through pretrial intervention.

Expert Analysis

  • Dropped FCPA Case Holds Key Reminder For Defense Attys

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent decision, based on newly discovered evidence, to drop Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges against two defendants involved in a Haitian port development project underscores the need for defense counsel to hold the DOJ to its own policies and precedents in all types of criminal cases, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • The Risks In Lateral Hiring, And How To Avoid Them

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    As law firms increasingly recruit laterals, they must account for ethics rules and other due diligence issues that can turn an inadvisable or careless hire into a nightmare of lost opportunity or disqualification, says Mark Hinderks at Stinson.

  • Reading FARA Tea Leaves In Flynn Ex-Partner, Wynn Cases

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    The recent Foreign Agents Registration Act cases against Michael Flynn’s ex-business partner Bijan Rafiekian and casino mogul Steve Wynn show that the U.S. Department of Justice may test the statute's boundaries as it ramps up enforcement of foreign influence campaigns, say Richard Sofield and Peter Thomas at V&E.

  • Judges Who Use Social Media Must Know Their Ethical Limits

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    While the judiciary is permitted to use electronic social media, judges and judicial candidates should protect themselves from accusations of ethics violations by studying the growing body of ethics opinions and disciplinary cases centering on who judges connect with and how they behave online, says Justice Daniel Crothers at the North Dakota Supreme Court.

  • Rebuttal

    ABA Is Defending Profession's Values From Monied Influences

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    A recent Law360 guest article suggested that the American Bar Association ignored new opportunities for the legal industry by opposing nonlawyer ownership of law practices, but any advantages would be outweighed by the constraints nonlawyer owners could place on the independence that lawyers require to act in the best interest of their clients, says Stephen Younger at Foley Hoag.

  • 4th Circ. Underlines Immigration Judges' Standard Of Conduct

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    The Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Acevedo v. Garland that an immigration judge’s bad behavior is central when considering a request for a new hearing critically recognizes that the judge’s behavior determines whether a respondent can meaningfully participate in their proceeding, says Monica Mananzan at the CAIR Coalition.

  • How In-House Counsel Can Better Manage Litigation Exposure

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    In anticipation of economic downturn and increased litigation volume, the true struggle for an in-house team is allocating their very limited and valuable attentional resources, but the solution is building systems that focus attention where it can be most effective in delivering better outcomes, say Jaron Luttich and Sean Kennedy at Element Standard.

  • Practical E-Discovery Lessons From The Alex Jones Case

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    The accidental disclosure of mobile phone data during the Alex Jones defamation damages trial underlines the importance of having in place a repeatable e-discovery process that includes specific steps to prevent production of data that may be privileged, sensitive or damaging to the case, say Mike Gaudet and Richard Chung at J.S. Held.

  • Opinion

    Mar-A-Lago And The Inherent Problems With DOJ Filter Teams

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    A Florida federal court's decision to appoint a special master to screen the documents seized from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate for privilege is not an outcome normally seen in white collar practice, but it is a welcome change as there are three significant problems with government filter teams, say Jack Sharman and Mary Parrish McCracken at Lightfoot Franklin.

  • The Ethical Risks For Lawyers Accepting Payments In Crypto

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    Ohio recently became the fifth jurisdiction to provide attorneys guidance on accepting cryptocurrency as payment or holding cryptocurrency in escrow, but lawyers should beware the ethics rules such payments may implicate, and consider three practical steps to minimize the risks, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Jared Marx at HWG.

  • Envisioning Metaverse-Based Litigation In The Real World

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    Attorneys should entertain the possibility of the metaverse becoming a matter of interest in real-world courts by considering what could cause actions outside the virtual world and digital forensics hurdles to be cleared in demonstrating the offense, identifying the culpable parties and collecting damages, say consultants at Keystone Strategy.

  • Potential Charges That Could Stem From Mar-A-Lago Search

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    Drawing on his experience as a criminal defense attorney and former CIA officer, Kevin Carroll at Hughes Hubbard explains how document themes, handwritten notes and potential foreign influences could determine possible charges that may be levied against former President Donald Trump or his staff after the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago to seize classified documents.

  • Opinion

    ABA Stance On Role Of Nonlawyers Is Too Black And White

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    The American Bar Association's recent resolution affirming its long-standing opposition to nonlawyers owning law practices or receiving shares of legal fees overstates the ethical, professional and regulatory challenges — and ignores the potential benefits — of allowing nonlawyers greater participation in the legal industry, say Peter Jarvis and Trisha Rich at Holland & Knight.

  • How To Navigate Claims Brought By 'Trust' Employees

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    As claims against companies from employees in positions of trust — such as those in the legal or human resources departments — are seemingly on the rise, employers could benefit from considering a response strategy, such as taking steps to protect confidential information and going on the offense, say Keisha-Ann Gray and Pinchos Goldberg at Proskauer.

  • Harnessing The Power Of Big Data In Litigation

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    The growth in the volume, scope and utility of available data — with vendors tracking and selling data, and government releasing large data sets — requires consideration of new data analysis approaches and technological tools that can help provide objective insights in litigation matters, answer key liability and damages questions, and support critical discovery efforts, say analysts at Bates White.

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