Legal Ethics

  • August 29, 2024

    Foley & Lardner Must Face Ex-Clients' Breach-Of-Duty Action

    A Texas appellate court has reversed a decision that let Foley & Lardner LLP escape a suit filed by two partners in an oil and gas venture who allege that the firm failed to disclose conflicts of interest and misused their confidential information after representing them in several matters.

  • August 29, 2024

    Bannon Again Seeks Bail As DC Circ. Considers Rehearing

    Imprisoned former Donald Trump adviser Stephen Bannon asked a D.C. federal judge on Thursday to reimpose his bail while he waits to hear whether an appeals court will give another look at his contempt of Congress conviction.

  • August 28, 2024

    9th Circ. Revives Atty's Suit Against State Bar Officers

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday reversed a summary judgment win for Oregon State Bar officers, ruling in a published opinion that a member attorney established that the bar violated his constitutional right to freedom of association when publishing statements he objected to that criticized former President Donald Trump.

  • August 28, 2024

    Orrick, Okla. Atty Deny Violating MOVEit MDL Judge's Orders

    Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and an Oklahoma attorney have denied violating court orders in multidistrict litigation over a 2023 data breach involving Progress Software's MOVEit file transfer tool, telling a Massachusetts federal court they were allowed to settle similar state litigation against a payroll software provider outside the federal action.

  • August 28, 2024

    Pa. Atty Admits To Dodging Taxes On Mass Tort Deal Fees

    A Pennsylvania attorney pled guilty Wednesday to failing to pay taxes for approximately $1.2 million in income she received over three years, depriving the government of up to half a million dollars in revenue, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

  • August 28, 2024

    NY Firm Calls Gas Co.'s Contract And Fee Claims Duplicative

    Albany, New York-based Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP has moved to trim breach of contract and disgorgement of fees claims brought by a former client over allegedly bungled tax advice, telling a New York federal judge the claims are redundant when the ex-client is also pursuing a legal malpractice cause of action. 

  • August 28, 2024

    NJ Health System Repeats Call For Proskauer DQ

    New Jersey health network CarePoint Health Management Associates LLC has redoubled its call for a New Jersey federal judge to disqualify Proskauer Rose LLP from representing competitor RWJBarnabas Health Inc. amid antitrust claims brought by CarePoint, arguing CarePoint's prior representation by Proskauer is substantially related to the case.

  • August 28, 2024

    LA Atty Accused Of Bilking Inmates With False Freedom Hope

    A Los Angeles attorney accused of raking in thousands of dollars by giving inmates and their families intentionally misleading information about their chances for resentencing after convictions for violent crimes faces an 18-count disciplinary complaint filed this week by the State Bar of California.

  • August 28, 2024

    Jones Foster Beats Malpractice Claims In Fla. Over Trust Case

    Jones Foster PA and one of its attorneys escaped malpractice claims filed against them in Florida federal court after a judge said their former clients were mistaken when they argued they didn't need an expert witness in their case.

  • August 28, 2024

    NFL Concussion Litigation Funder's Case Heading For Trial

    A New Jersey federal judge has advanced a case for trial in which a litigation funder accuses a solo practitioner in the NFL concussion case of unfairly shielding assets by buying and transferring himself a house through his firm.

  • August 28, 2024

    Congress Urged To Address Trump Financial Conflicts

    After possible financial conflicts of interest caused consternation during President Donald Trump's first term, an ethics watchdog is calling for a series of legislative reforms to prevent them from recurring if he's reelected.

  • August 28, 2024

    Ex-Defender Opposes Bid To Fix Record In Harassment Case

    A former assistant public defender in North Carolina who lost her suit accusing the judiciary of botching her sexual harassment complaint has called out mistakes in the trial transcripts but opposed the government's method for correcting them, calling the proposal "fundamentally unfair."

  • August 28, 2024

    Holland & Knight Sued Over Client Info In Ex-Partner's Divorce

    Holland & Knight LLP and former partner Patrick McCabe are facing a lawsuit in Pennsylvania court filed by a former client of the law firm who claims McCabe and two employees who reported to him unlawfully accessed the client's confidential documents in order to gain an upper hand in his contentious divorce.

  • August 27, 2024

    Gharavi Threatens Defamation Suit In Chiles Controversy

    Prominent arbitrator Hamid Gharavi is accusing the authors of a viral article questioning whether he should have been conflicted off the tribunal that stripped U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles of her Olympic bronze medal of defamation, saying they exposed him to "public hatred, threats and disgrace."

  • August 27, 2024

    Calif. Panel Won't Block Sanctions Over Firm's Anti-SLAPP Bid

    A California appeals court has upheld a trial court's denial of an anti-SLAPP motion in a lawsuit alleging a partner in one law firm tried to misappropriate fees won in an overtime suit by another law firm where he was also a partner.

  • August 27, 2024

    Jackson Walker Is Trying To 'Revise History,' US Trustee Says

    Jackson Walker LLP told a Houston judge Tuesday that the U.S. Trustee's Office "wants everyone to play by the rules except for [itself]" in a discovery dispute connected to a former Texas bankruptcy judge's secret relationship, as the bankruptcy watchdog simultaneously accused the firm of chasing down rumors to "revise history" through overbroad discovery requests.

  • August 27, 2024

    Colo. Startup Founder Disbarred For Conflicts, Dishonesty

    A Denver attorney who co-founded and provided legal services for a publicly traded software startup has been disbarred in Colorado for widespread misconduct including failing to inform the company that he issued stock in excess of what had been authorized, practicing law with a suspended license, and conversion of thousands of dollars in corporate funds.

  • August 27, 2024

    NY-Licensed Atty Tells Appeals Court NC Bar Can't Touch Him

    An immigration attorney has told the North Carolina Court of Appeals he can't be disciplined in a state where he was never licensed, saying the state bar's decision to disbar him should be reversed.

  • August 27, 2024

    Ford, NC Couple Settle Car Crash Dispute

    Ford Motor Company and a couple suing the auto giant over an allegedly defective seat and seat belt in their 2017 Ford Explorer have reached a confidential settlement of their claims, according to a recent North Carolina state court filing.

  • August 27, 2024

    Mich. Atty Says Brother's Email Hack Harming Clients, Firm

    A Michigan attorney has accused his brother of improperly accessing his law firm's email accounts and confidential discussions with clients, forcing the attorney to step down as name partner of his firm, allegedly after the brothers' joint cannabis venture failed. 

  • August 27, 2024

    Reed Smith Calls Ex-Atty's Bid For Pay Data 'Frivolous'

    Reed Smith LLP has urged a New Jersey state court judge to reject a bid by a former attorney suing the firm for gender discrimination to obtain pay data going back nearly 20 years, arguing there is no legal basis to support expanding the scope of discovery.

  • August 27, 2024

    Connecticut Litigation To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2024

    The Connecticut state and federal courts will grapple with a number of closely watched cases during the second half of 2024, including three key lawsuits by state Attorney General William Tong.

  • August 27, 2024

    Disbarred Atty Tom Girardi Convicted Of Defrauding Clients

    A California federal jury on Tuesday convicted disbarred attorney Tom Girardi on all four counts of wire fraud, finding that the former titan of the plaintiffs bar misappropriated $15 million of his clients' settlement funds.

  • August 27, 2024

    Gusrae Kaplan Says Suit Over 'Frivolous' Filing Rightly Tossed

    Gusrae Kaplan Nusbaum PLLC is urging the Delaware Supreme Court to affirm the dismissal of an Applied Energetics complaint alleging the firm and a former partner filed a frivolous securities fraud suit in order to hobble other litigation against a former CEO, accusing the laser-weapons maker of making "fanciful" arguments in its appeal.

  • August 26, 2024

    Feds Say Trump Docs Dismissal Contradicts 'Long Tradition'

    Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday lodged the government's opening brief in its Eleventh Circuit appeal of the dismissal of the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, arguing that the lower court's finding is contrary to "precedent and history" and the "long tradition of special-counsel appointments by the attorney general."

Expert Analysis

  • The Fed. Circ. In February: A Reminder On Procedure Rule 28

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    Because the Federal Circuit does not often issue a sua sponte precedential order emphasizing an important rule of practice, it is useful to look at how the court applied the restrictions of appellate procedure Rule 28 in Promptu v. Comcast last month, and in cases that preceded it, say Jeremiah Helm and Sean Murray at Knobbe Martens.

  • Opinion

    DOJ Press Office Is Not Fulfilling Its Stated Mission

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    The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs’ apparent practice of issuing press releases when someone is indicted or convicted, but not when a defendant prevails, undermines its stated mission to disseminate “current, complete and accurate” information, and has negative real-world ramifications, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.

  • Series

    Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.

  • Opinion

    Litigation Funding Needs Regulating To Meet Ethics Standards

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    Third-party litigation funding can provide litigants with access to the legal system, but, as recent cases show, the funding agreements carry the potential for exploitation and may conflict with core aspects of the attorney-client relationship, making the need for a balanced regulation self-evident, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year

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    As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • For Now, Generative AI Is Risky For Class Action Counsel

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    Although a recent survey showed most in-house counsel think that their outside counsel should be using generative artificial intelligence "in some way" in class action work, the technology is more a target for class actions than it is a tool to be used in practice at present, says Matthew Allen at Carlton Fields.

  • When Your Client Insists On Testifying In A Criminal Case

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    Speculation that former President Donald Trump could take the stand in any of the four criminal cases he faces serves as a reminder for counsel to consider their ethical obligations when a client insists on testifying, including the attorney’s duty of candor to the court and the depth of their discussions with clients, says Marissa Kingman at Fox Rothschild.

  • Why Preemption Args Wouldn't Stall Trump Hush-Money Case

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    With former President Donald Trump's New York hush-money criminal trial weeks away, some speculate that he may soon move to stay the case on preemption grounds, but under the Anti-Injunction Act and well-settled case law, that motion would likely be quickly denied, says former New York Supreme Court Justice Ethan Greenberg, now at Anderson Kill.

  • Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment

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    As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC

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    The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts

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    Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.

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