Legal Ethics

  • February 21, 2024

    Law Firms Rip Cuomo Subpoenas As 'Abusive' And 'Wasteful'

    Law firms Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Vladeck Raskin & Clark PC said in a letter Tuesday filed in federal court that former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's subpoena regarding their sex harassment investigation "is plainly improper and is another in a string of abusive and wasteful tactics."

  • February 21, 2024

    Barnes & Thornburg Beats Ga. Malpractice Claim On Appeal

    A Georgia state appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a legal malpractice claim brought by a trustee for a former Barnes & Thornburg LLP client, finding there was "no merit" to her arguments that the firm violated the standard of care and sunk the trust's insurance suit.

  • February 21, 2024

    NY Judge Trims American Idol Singer's Suit Against NY Atty

    A New York federal judge on Wednesday trimmed a suit against an attorney from a former American Idol contestant, allowing the artist to proceed only with her breach of fiduciary duty and faithless servant claims.

  • February 21, 2024

    Ex-Bank CEO Ends Holland & Knight Overbilling Suit

    Republic First Bancorp's former CEO Vernon Hill II ended his lawsuit accusing Holland & Knight LLP of overcharging him with a $7 million bill for what he claimed was "ineffective and unsatisfactory" representation in legal matters over his ouster from the bank.

  • February 21, 2024

    Giuliani Seeks New Trial, Will Appeal $148M Defamation Award

    Rudy Giuliani is urging a Washington, D.C., federal judge to rethink a jury verdict directing him to pay $148 million to two Georgia election workers he was found liable for defaming as he tees up an appeal of the jury award to the D.C. Circuit.

  • February 20, 2024

    Giuliani Can Contest $148M Fine But Not With His Own Money

    A New York bankruptcy judge on Tuesday allowed Rudy Giuliani to seek a new trial for $148 million in damages he was ordered to pay for defaming two Georgia poll workers, but said the former mayor can't use money from his bankruptcy estate to pay his legal bills.

  • February 20, 2024

    Ill. Public Defender Sues Over Display Of Israeli Army Photo

    An Illinois public defender filed a First Amendment lawsuit against her county employer after she was reprimanded for a photograph of her holding a gun in front of an Israeli flag that she displayed in an office area in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel.

  • February 20, 2024

    Epstein's Attorney, Accountant Accused Of Aiding Trafficking

    Two survivors of sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein claim his longtime lawyer and accountant played essential parts in the disgraced financier's sex trafficking enterprise by creating a complex financial infrastructure to keep the money flowing, according to a proposed class action filed in New York federal court.

  • February 20, 2024

    Colo. Justices Ban Disbarred Atty From Filing Pro Se Actions

    The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday banned a disbarred attorney from filing pro se actions in the state, with the justices finding the former lawyer has continued her "vexatious" abuse of state courts despite sanctions and fee awards from multiple trial courts.

  • February 20, 2024

    How Future Litigators Are Training In A 'Flight Simulator'

    Law students who would traditionally experience only a few courtroom scenarios over a semester have begun working with programs that can provide an entire array of courtroom curveballs, thanks to large language model artificial intelligence technology.

  • February 20, 2024

    Kirkland Can't Get 'Invasive' Atty Info From 2 BigLaw Firms

    A California federal magistrate judge barred Kirkland & Ellis LLP from subpoenaing confidential personnel information from a former intellectual property associate's prior employers, Paul Hastings LLP and Fish & Richardson PC, in its defense against her discrimination suit, ruling that Kirkland's subpoena requests are "invasive," irrelevant and "amazingly broad."

  • February 20, 2024

    Ill. Judge Scolds Defense Attys On Discovery: 'This Is Insanity'

    A Cook County judge trimmed a lawsuit Tuesday brought by investors alleging financial mismanagement of the firm behind celebrated Chicago restaurant Maple & Ash, but lambasted defense counsel for dragging out discovery, saying she was "flabbergasted" that they left out information in discovery responses that she ordered them to include late last year.

  • February 20, 2024

    Ex-BigLaw Atty Avoids Prison For Ch. 11 Lies

    A former BigLaw partner on Tuesday was spared any prison time for lying to a New York bankruptcy court in his 2022 personal Chapter 11 case, in an attempt to shield his assets from creditors.

  • February 20, 2024

    Georgia Attorney Disbarred For Court Lies, Hiding Money

    The Supreme Court of Georgia has stripped an Atlanta-area attorney of her license to practice in the Peach State, ruling the drastic move was appropriate after the lawyer's years of lies to a state court regarding the location of $80,000 tied up in a contract dispute.

  • February 20, 2024

    Policyholder Attys Say Firm's Mailer Row Merits Coverage

    The North Carolina Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday over whether a law firm accused of violating the Driver's Privacy Protection Act by using personal information to market legal services to crash victims is entitled to coverage under an excess policy, as policyholder attorneys anticipate a win for the firm. Here, Law360 breaks down the case in advance of the hearing.

  • February 20, 2024

    Justices Decline Malpractice Dispute Over $6M Settlement

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear the appeal of a Massachusetts legal malpractice suit in which Lubin & Meyer PC was accused, and cleared by a lower court, of pressuring a family into accepting a $6 million settlement that the family claims could have been higher.

  • February 20, 2024

    Fox Rothschild AI Chief Talks 'Terrifying' Deepfakes, Biased AI

    Mark McCreary, the chief artificial intelligence and information security officer at Fox Rothschild, leads his firm's internal AI strategy and provides counsel to other law firms trying to bushwhack their path through the often murky AI legal landscape, rife with hallucinated case law citations and disturbingly real deepfakes.

  • February 20, 2024

    Sullivan & Cromwell Accused Of Aiding FTX Fraud

    Sullivan & Cromwell LLP has been accused of knowing about and helping facilitate the massive fraud that brought down cryptocurrency exchange FTX while serving as FTX's outside counsel, and profiting on the back end by overseeing FTX's ongoing bankruptcy, according to a racketeering lawsuit filed last week.

  • February 20, 2024

    Epic Calls Apple's $73M Fees Bid An Overreach

    Epic Games blasted Apple on Friday for seeking $73.4 million in legal fees following the pair's California federal court antitrust battle over App Store payment fees, arguing that antitrust claims like Epic's are immune from legal fees and that Apple cannot wrap its demands in successful contract breach counterclaims.

  • February 20, 2024

    Girardi Keese Trustee Recovers $1.8M In Fees For Exide Case

    A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved an agreement between the Girardi Keese bankruptcy trustee, a former attorney for the firm and the Mandell Law Firm to end an adversary proceeding connected to $1.8 million in attorney fees from a lawsuit over the toxic Exide battery plant in Vernon, California.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Learning From Trump And Bannon Discovery Strategies

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    Court-imposed sanctions on both former President Donald Trump and his former aide Steve Bannon for failing to comply with subpoenas illustrate that efforts to bar the door to valid discovery can quickly escalate, so litigants faced with challenging discovery disputes should adopt a pragmatic approach, say Mathea Bulander and Monica McCarroll at Redgrave.

  • 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.

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