Legal Ethics

  • August 30, 2024

    More Bias Claims Lobbed At Philly Legal Org, This Time Racial

    A Black former public defender has sued the Defender Association of Philadelphia for racial bias, claiming the organization fired her based on her race and that it treats Black employees differently than White ones.

  • August 30, 2024

    Marketing Company Fights Texas Firm's Deception Claims

    An Oklahoma City legal marketing company has acknowledged in a court filing that it uses trademarks associated with a Texas lawyer in its online keyword advertising, but it said the practice is lawful and that the Texas lawyer waited too long to complain and hasn't shown actual harm from it.

  • August 30, 2024

    Another Biz Owner Called To Appear In Judge's Patent Probe

    U.S. District Judge Colm F. Connolly has ordered the owner of another business affiliated with patent litigation funding outfit IP Edge and its affiliate Mavexar to appear before him amid his probe into possible fraud he says may have been perpetrated on the Delaware federal court in certain infringement cases.

  • August 30, 2024

    Va. US Atty To Resign As Wife Assumes Judgeship

    U.S. Attorney Chris Kavanaugh of the Western District of Virginia has announced that he will step down from his role at the end of the year as his wife, Jasmine Hyejung Yoon, was confirmed to a federal judgeship in that district.

  • August 30, 2024

    Trump's Bid To Move Hush Money Case Could Backfire

    Donald Trump's renewed bid to persuade a federal court to intervene in the Manhattan district attorney's hush money prosecution faces slim odds and could ultimately be deemed a frivolous filing that exposes his attorneys to potential sanctions, experts told Law360.

  • August 30, 2024

    Ex-DOJ Atty Clark Says New Trump Indictment Bolsters Case

    Special counsel Jack Smith's superseding indictment of former President Donald Trump over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election sets a new precedent that should end ethics charges leveled against Trump administration Department of Justice attorney Jeffrey Clark, according to Clark's latest arguments.

  • August 30, 2024

    Sills Cummis, CohnReznick Sued Over Client's $2M Bill

    A New Jersey man has claimed law firm Sills Cummis & Gross PC and accounting firm CohnReznick LLP padded his bills for services they rendered, which reached nearly $2 million, according to a lawsuit filed in state court.

  • August 30, 2024

    Firm Accused Of Botching Arbitration In Tribal Lending Row

    Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP and one of its former attorneys have been hit with a California federal court suit accusing them of negligence in their representation of a consulting business and its president in a 2018 arbitration they say caused them at least $17.5 million in damages.

  • August 30, 2024

    Texas Lawyers Can Get Paid By Non-Attys For Presentations

    Texas lawyers may accept payments from nonlawyer third-party companies for creating educational materials on general legal topics that don't constitute legal advice, according to a new ethics opinion from the Texas Bar's Professional Ethics Committee.

  • August 29, 2024

    Tesla, Elon Musk Beat Dogecoin Buyers' Fraud Suit, For Good

    A New York federal judge on Thursday for the final time threw out a contentious lawsuit brought by Dogecoin investors accusing Elon Musk of manipulating the market so that he and Tesla could turn a profit on the meme-themed cryptocurrency.

  • August 29, 2024

    'You Don't Need To Be Obnoxious': Ch. 11 Hearing Gets Rowdy

    A California bankruptcy judge on Thursday slammed an attorney for what he called her "obnoxious" courtroom behavior, while the lawyer argued that a proposed liquidation plan for a defunct law firm could enrich the professionals managing the case and leave little for claimants.

  • August 29, 2024

    Samsung Nabs Costs After Beating Staton Techiya IP Case

    A Texas federal judge on Thursday awarded Samsung $108,674 in court costs stemming from a patent infringement suit filed by the company's former in-house patent attorneys — a case he tossed earlier this year based on unclean hands — and asked for more information on costs still in dispute.

  • August 29, 2024

    Philly Legal Org. Must Face Atty's EEOC Bias Suit At Trial

    A Pennsylvania federal judge declined Thursday to side with either party on the core claims in a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit alleging a Philadelphia legal services organization fired an attorney who asked for more medical leave, ruling that the case is best fit for trial.

  • August 29, 2024

    Judiciary Group Urged To Table 'Mega' Bankruptcy Panel Ban

    A subcommittee urged the Judicial Conference's bankruptcy rule advisory committee to hold off on considering a ban on so-called mega bankruptcy panels at an upcoming meeting, saying a different committee's work overlaps with a rule proposed to curb the controversial practice.

  • August 29, 2024

    Burke Warren Nixed WFH Request, Violating ADA, Suit Says

    A former legal assistant at Burke Warren MacKay & Serritella PC has sued the firm for disability discrimination in Illinois federal court, saying he was illegally fired rather than accommodated when his cancer treatment led him to ask for a permanent work-from-home schedule.

  • August 29, 2024

    Ill. Judge Overrules Dismissal For 6 Paraquat Cases

    An Illinois federal judge on Wednesday declined to dismiss several cases in multidistrict litigation over the herbicide paraquat, finding that even though counsel didn't fill out questionnaires on time, it was because he was left the sole attorney in the firm after others quit.

  • August 29, 2024

    Texas Justices Sign Off On Attorney Ethics Rule Changes

    The Texas Supreme Court has adopted a number of amendments and new professional conduct rules for lawyers practicing in the Lone Star State, including some that address the duties of a managing partner or supervising attorney and an attorney's responsibilities to prospective clients.

  • August 29, 2024

    Feds Say Ex-BigLaw Atty Can't Shake OneCoin Conviction

    Federal prosecutors have told the Second Circuit that former Locke Lord LLP partner Mark S. Scott has "greatly exaggerate[d]" the importance of testimony from a government witness, some of which was later shown to be perjury, in a bid to have his money laundering conviction reversed.

  • August 29, 2024

    6th Circ. Tosses Atty's Challenge To Court Recording Ban

    A Michigan attorney who was held in contempt for posting a screenshot of a Zoom hearing on Facebook can't use the First Amendment to challenge a prohibition on recording courtroom proceedings, because he lacks standing, the Sixth Circuit has ruled.

  • August 29, 2024

    Quinn Emanuel Seeks DC Circ. Rehearing In $486M Award Fight

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP has asked the D.C. Circuit to reconsider its ruling in a dispute over the firm's authority to represent a port operator in a long-running legal battle with the Republic of Djibouti.

  • August 29, 2024

    Offit Kurman Must Pay Over $4M In Legal Malpractice Suit

    A Pennsylvania judge has awarded over $4 million to Mitts Law LLC in its suit claiming that Offit Kurman Attorneys At Law's discovery violations while representing a client resulted in a $3 million judgment, ruling that the firm's representation "fell below the ordinary skill, knowledge and care exercised by attorneys under the circumstances."

  • August 29, 2024

    Ex-Littler Atty Drops Suit Alleging Firm Violated $1M Deal

    A former Littler Mendelson PC lawyer has dropped her California state court lawsuit against the firm that alleged it had violated a settlement inked in a suit the firm filed in Texas state court accusing the attorney of stealing confidential information, wrapping up the dispute between the former associate and the firm.

  • August 29, 2024

    Seward & Kissel Faces Docs Demand In NJ 'Betrayal' Suit

    The wife of the billionaire founder of hedge fund Two Sigma Investments LP told the New Jersey state court that Seward & Kissel LLP cannot hide behind attorney-client privilege to avoid producing documents in her malpractice case because the firm defrauded her.

  • 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.

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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