Legal Ethics

  • October 07, 2025

    Georgia Bar Continues Fight To Nix Atty's Bias Suit

    The State Bar of Georgia on Tuesday doubled down on a request to expand its arguments seeking dismissal of an Atlanta attorney's bias suit alleging a pattern of racial discrimination in attorney discipline, telling a federal judge that the time was right to bring the broadened motion.

  • October 07, 2025

    NH Justice Reaches No Contest Plea Deal In Criminal Case

    A New Hampshire Supreme Court justice entered a no contest plea Tuesday to a charge of criminal solicitation of misuse of position related to allegations she interfered with the state attorney general's investigation of her husband.

  • October 07, 2025

    Fitch Even's $1.2M Fee Fight Appears Headed To Arbitration

    Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery LLP's $1.2 million fee dispute with a former client and a litigation funder's CEO may be paused and sent to arbitration before the firm can convince an Illinois federal judge to halt any alleged use or transfer of the money at issue.

  • October 07, 2025

    NJ Justices Won't Disturb Locke Lord Win In Oil Co.'s Suit

    The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to review a lower appellate court decision handing a victory to Locke Lord LLP over malpractice claims from an oil processing company on the grounds that the firm does not have a significant connection to New Jersey and cannot be sued in the state's courts.

  • October 07, 2025

    Ex-Reed Smith Atty Says NJ Pay Bias Law Goes Back 6 Years

    A former Reed Smith LLP attorney suing the firm for gender discrimination told a New Jersey appeals court Tuesday that a 2018 equal pay law was intended by the Legislature to be a "game changer" and be applied retroactively, expanding the scope of her claims.

  • October 07, 2025

    DHS Must Face Suit Alleging Denial Of Counsel To Detainees

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security must face a lawsuit lodged by advocacy groups alleging detained immigrants are being denied proper access to counsel, a D.C. federal judge ruled, finding that the legal services organizations adequately alleged "a close relation" to the third parties in the lawsuit.

  • October 07, 2025

    Litigation Funder, Ex-GC To Take Fight Out Of Texas Court

    Litigation funder Siltstone Capital LLC has agreed to arbitration with a former general counsel it has accused in a Texas state lawsuit of diverting business opportunities and using confidential business information when secretly forming a new rival litigation funder, Signal Peak Partners LLC.

  • October 07, 2025

    Walgreens Seeks Atty Sanctions For 'Baseless' Claims

    Walgreens has called on a Georgia federal judge to slap sanctions on counsel for a former pharmacist suing the chain for discrimination, arguing that she should pay for the company's efforts to dismiss a handful of claims with "no legal basis" after her attorney refused to voluntarily drop them.

  • October 07, 2025

    Title Insurer Fights Mortgage Lender's Fraud Claim

    A title insurer has no duty to pay a mortgage lender's claim over a $510,000 loan a borrower alleged was fraudulent, it told a North Carolina federal court, saying its closing protection letter explicitly excludes coverage for third-party fraud and that no policy was ever issued.

  • October 07, 2025

    United Can't Sanction Ex-Flight Attendant Over Pay Suit

    A former United Airlines flight attendant will avoid sanctions in his now-ended suit seeking unpaid wages, a New York federal judge ruled, saying he didn't abuse the judicial process even if his evidence that state law applied to his claims was weak.

  • October 07, 2025

    Fla. Lawyer Accused Of Scamming Clients Suspended

    A Florida lawyer accused of abandoning dozens of clients after charging them legal fees has been suspended from practicing law in the state on an emergency basis.

  • October 06, 2025

    Paraquat MDL Judge Seeks Answers From Plaintiffs' Atty

    The Illinois federal judge presiding over multidistrict litigation alleging that the pesticide paraquat causes Parkinson's disease on Monday ordered Aimee Wagstaff of Andrus Wagstaff PC, a former member of the plaintiffs' executive committee, to explain why she's putting on a video conference for other attorneys in the litigation.

  • October 06, 2025

    Girardi's Son-In-Law Gets Mixed Sentence For Contempt

    Tom Girardi's son-in-law received a mixed sentence in Chicago federal court Monday that included equal parts incarceration and home confinement alongside a hefty community service obligation for failing to alert a judge when he knew Girardi wasn't paying certain Lion Air crash clients their settlements as ordered.

  • October 06, 2025

    Justices Wary Of Hard Rules On Recess Testimony Talks

    The U.S. Supreme Court appeared reluctant Monday to rule that the Sixth Amendment allows defense counsel to freely discuss defendants' testimony with them during an intervening overnight recess, with justices questioning which topics should be off limits and which should not.

  • October 06, 2025

    Womble Bond Atty Tells 4th Circ. He Didn't Mislead Dutch Court

    There's no evidence that Womble Bond Dickinson partner Pressly Millen misled a Dutch court or violated a federal judge's correction order in a $28 million trademark dispute, Millen has told the Fourth Circuit in a bid to reverse a contempt order against him.

  • October 06, 2025

    Justices Nix Petition Over Due Process In Arbitration

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away a petition challenging a Florida appellate court decision that vacated a $1.5 million legal malpractice arbitration award against a company's former attorneys, Miami-based personal injury firm Ferraro Law Firm PA.

  • October 06, 2025

    Grassley Probes Judges' Possible AI Use In Faulty Rulings

    Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, pressed two federal judges on Monday about their possible use of artificial intelligence in court orders that contained a multitude of errors.

  • October 06, 2025

    Hagens Berman Fights Sanctions Over Thalidomide Suits

    Plaintiffs firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP strenuously denied claims that it should be sanctioned for filing since-dropped product liability cases, responding to a judge's show cause order by saying it spent hundreds of hours researching the legal theories it pursued before filing the cases and devoted substantial time and resources to them.

  • October 06, 2025

    NJ High Court Skeptical Of Expanding Nonclient Malpractice

    The New Jersey Supreme Court appeared doubtful Monday about extending the ability of nonclients to sue attorneys for malpractice claims, with one justice noting how the proposed duty would have "no bounds."

  • October 06, 2025

    Atty Awarded $203K In ADA Suit Over Alcoholism Relapse

    A federal judge in Washington state has confirmed a $203,523 JAMS arbitration award issued to a Seattle-area lawyer, permanently ending the attorney's disability bias suit against a personal injury firm he alleged fired him over an alcoholism relapse.

  • October 06, 2025

    Atty Sanctioned For 'Reckless' AI Use In DC FCA Case

    An attorney who admitted to relying on generative artificial intelligence to help craft a brief that contained errors in all of its nine citations, was ordered to pay fee sanctions in a judge's order that emphasized attorneys should stick to the fundamentals taught in law school: "check your legal citations for accuracy."

  • October 06, 2025

    Texas Class Action Nixed Over Law Firm's La. Hurricane Ads

    A federal judge in Texas has ruled that a litigation funder and a Houston-area attorney will not face a proposed class action alleging that a law firm engaged in deceptive advertising targeting hurricane victims in Louisiana, finding that a prior Texas Supreme Court ruling dooms the case.

  • October 06, 2025

    More Time Needed To Replace DA On Trump Case, Judge Told

    The Georgia agency tasked with appointing a new prosecutor to oversee the election interference case against President Donald Trump told a state court judge Monday it needs more time to name a successor than the 14 days the judge said he'll allow before he throws the case out.

  • October 06, 2025

    High Court Turns Down 6 Patent Cases At Start Of Term

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected six petitions in patent-related cases, taking some of its first actions on intellectual property matters this term.

  • October 06, 2025

    Justices Won't Review Ex-BigLaw Atty's OneCoin Conviction

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a former Locke Lord LLP partner's appeal of his conviction and prison sentence for helping launder roughly $400 million in proceeds from the infamous OneCoin cryptocurrency scheme.

Expert Analysis

  • The Metamorphosis Of The Major Questions Doctrine

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    The so-called major questions doctrine arose as a counterweight to Chevron deference over the past few decades, but invocations of the doctrine have persisted in the year since Chevron was overturned, suggesting it still has a role to play in reining in agency overreach, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    Playing Mah-Jongg Makes Me A Better Mediator

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    Mah-jongg rewards patience, pattern recognition, adaptability and keen observation, all skills that are invaluable to my role as a mediator, and to all mediating parties, says Marina Corodemus.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Navigating Client Trauma

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    Law schools don't train students to handle repeated exposure to clients' traumatic experiences, but for litigators practicing in areas like civil rights and personal injury, success depends on the ability to view cases clinically and to recognize when you may need to seek help, says Katie Bennett at Robins Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    4 Former Justices Would Likely Frown On Litigation Funding

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    As courts increasingly confront cases involving hidden litigation finance contracts, the jurisprudence of four former U.S. Supreme Court justices establishes a constitutional framework that risks erosion by undisclosed financial interests, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

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    E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.

  • Opinion

    State Bars Must Probe Misconduct Claims, Even If It's The AG

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    The Florida Bar’s recent refusal to look into misconduct allegations against Attorney General Pam Bondi is dangerous for the rule of law, and other lawyer disciplinary bodies must be prepared to investigate credible claims of ethical lapses against any lawyer, no matter their position, say attorneys James Kobak and Albert Feuer.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

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    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • ABA Opinion Makes It A Bit Easier To Drop A 'Hot Potato'

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    The American Bar Association's recent ethics opinion clarifies when attorneys may terminate clients without good cause, though courts may still disqualify a lawyer who drops a client like a hot potato, so sending a closeout letter is always a best practice, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

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    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

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    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

  • Series

    Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.

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