Legal Ethics

  • April 23, 2024

    Locke Lord Wins Appellate Review Of Malpractice Suit

    Locke Lord LLP has convinced a New Jersey state appellate court to review a trial court's ruling rejecting the firm's attempt to evade a malpractice suit alleging that it mishandled a transaction involving an oil refinery project in North Dakota.

  • April 23, 2024

    Denver Wants Law Firm To Turn Over Docs For Fraud Probe

    Fraud investigators for Denver Human Services have asked a state judge to force personal injury firm Ramos Law to provide employment records for one of the firm's case managers, saying the law firm has not yet provided records in response to subpoenas.

  • April 23, 2024

    Blank Rome Attys Defend Lawsuit Called A 'Pound Of Flesh'

    Partners with BigLaw firm Blank Rome LLP said they had legitimate reasons to file a lawsuit against a former attorney from the firm, rejecting accusations that their lawsuit was an effort to punish their ex-colleague for switching to the plaintiffs' bar.

  • April 23, 2024

    6th Circ. Backs Dykema's Win In Ex-Secretary's Age Bias Suit

    The Sixth Circuit won't reinstate a former Dykema legal secretary's age discrimination case, saying Tuesday she failed to show that her supervisor — whom she accused of giving her adult diapers for her 50th birthday and frequently asking her if she planned to retire — had anything to do with her firing.

  • April 23, 2024

    Boies Schiller Attys For Epstein Victims Beat Sanctions Bid

    A New York federal judge on Tuesday evening rejected a request by associates of Jeffrey Epstein to sanction Boies Schiller Flexner LLP's chair and a co-managing partner, while also denying the Boies Schiller attorneys' subsequent motion to sanction the Epstein associates' counsel.

  • April 23, 2024

    'Nate The Lawyer' Loses NJ Defamation Suit For Good

    YouTube legal livestreamer "Nate the Lawyer" saw his defamation suit against the operator of a social media watchdog account tossed for a final time, after a New Jersey federal judge ruled that he had not shown that any false statements about him were made with reckless disregard for the truth.

  • April 23, 2024

    Reciprocal Discipline Not Time Limited, Colo. Justices Say

    A former Colorado attorney cannot escape disbarment there, the state Supreme Court has ruled, finding a rule placing a time limit on sanctions does not apply to reciprocal discipline, and therefore the attorney's 2022 disbarment in Washington, D.C., for misconduct that occurred in 2008 and 2009 may be reciprocated in Colorado.

  • April 23, 2024

    Lin Wood Seeks Defamation Suit Pause Amid Insurance Spat

    Counsel for disbarred attorney Lin Wood has asked a Georgia federal judge to halt a defamation suit brought by Wood's former colleagues while a spat over his legal insurance plays out in the Georgia court system.

  • April 23, 2024

    Coverage Recap: Day 2 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

    Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a full recap from day two.

  • April 23, 2024

    Trump 'Detached From Facts' In Fla. Docs Case, Feds Say

    Prosecutors in Donald Trump's classified documents case have told a Florida federal judge that the former president's legal team was trying to paint a false narrative of political bias in its motion to obtain more discovery.

  • April 23, 2024

    PE Giant Faces Sanctions Bid For Mexico Corruption Claim

    Advent International Corp. and its counsel at Ropes & Gray and Quinn Emanuel allegedly fabricated claims that a Mexican corporation's lawyers corruptly influenced prosecutors and judges in the country to freeze the private equity firm's assets and issue arrest warrants for executives, according to a filing in Massachusetts federal court.

  • April 23, 2024

    Why A New York Federal Judge 'Loves' Discovery Disputes

    While discovery disputes can be a frustration for many judges and attorneys, U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote says that she loves them because they teach her a lot about the cases she is overseeing, the parties involved and the attorneys working on them.

  • April 23, 2024

    Trump Atty 'Losing Credibility' In Defending Posts, Judge Says

    The New York judge presiding over former President Donald Trump's hush money case on Tuesday gave a harsh appraisal of defense attorney Todd Blanche's attempts to keep his client out of criminal contempt for disparaging witnesses online, saying the lawyer was "losing all credibility" as he argued Trump was "being very careful" with his words.

  • April 22, 2024

    NJ Town Can't Beat Sanctions Over Legal Malpractice Suit

    A New Jersey state appeals panel upheld Monday, in a published opinion, sanctions against the borough of Englewood Cliffs for bringing a now-dismissed legal malpractice suit after a purportedly unfavorable affordable housing settlement.

  • April 22, 2024

    Atty Says Class Bid Over Bankrupt Firm's Hurricane Ads Fails

    A proposed class action against troubled Houston law firm MMA Law Firm, a former partner and others accused of participating in an illegal scheme to scare up profitable litigation following a hurricane doesn't offer enough evidence for certification and didn't meet a filing deadline, the ex-partner told a Texas federal judge.

  • April 22, 2024

    As DA Aims High, Trump Defense Gets 'Down And Dirty'

    Donald Trump lifted the curtain Monday on his strategy to win over jurors in his New York criminal hush-money trial, as a lawyer for the former president hammered the state's "liar" star witness and rejected the prosecution's quixotic framing of the case, experts observed.

  • April 22, 2024

    Conn. Judge Whittles $1.4M Malpractice Request To $165K

    A Connecticut state court judge has sliced a $1.4 million malpractice bid down to less than $165,000 in a dispute over an attorney's failure to properly secure a loan, citing the client's own negligence and its recovery of most of the money at issue from other sources.

  • April 22, 2024

    Citing Cozen O'Connor Ties, Pa. Judge Leaves Bias Case

    Despite originally declining to recuse himself from a surgeon's gender discrimination case against Thomas Jefferson University Hospital when an attorney from his son-in-law's firm, Cozen O'Connor, became involved, U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson changed his mind now that the case is set for a retrial.

  • April 22, 2024

    Google Faces Sanctions Bid Over Alleged Data Destruction

    A putative class of Google account holders urged a California magistrate judge to sanction and hold Google in contempt for purportedly intentionally destroying key evidence in their suit, which claims Google's ad auction practices violate privacy rights, arguing Google has a pattern of the alleged misconduct in the district.

  • April 22, 2024

    Ex-NJ Mayor Used Office To Get Job From Atty, AG Says

    The former mayor of Wildwood, New Jersey, has been indicted on new charges accusing him of using his elected position to obtain a job from a city attorney and of not paying state taxes on his earnings from that position, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced Monday.

  • April 22, 2024

    Cos. Want Ga. Firm Punished For 'Impossible' COVID-19 Suit

    A Georgia law firm should face sanctions for pursuing claims that several ship operators infected a longshoreman with COVID-19 since those claims were "factually impossible" and their sanctions motion was filed on time, the companies told a Georgia federal court.

  • April 22, 2024

    Ex-US Atty's Stepson Says He Has None Of Docs Gov't Seeks

    The stepson of a former Nevada U.S. attorney convicted of failing to pay taxes told a Nevada federal court that he doesn't have the financial documents the federal government has demanded in its $1.3 million tax suit against his stepfather.

  • April 22, 2024

    Conn. Agency Defends Ability To Challenge Judicial Branch

    The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities' prosecutorial arm has defended its ability to challenge the Connecticut Judicial Branch's handling of an attorney's reinstatement process, arguing the case wouldn't violate the separation of powers between the bodies.

  • April 22, 2024

    11 State AGs Urge Senate To Confirm Mangi For 3rd Circ.

    A group of 11 attorneys general is calling on the Senate to confirm Adeel Mangi, nominee for the Third Circuit, who would be the first federal Muslim appellate judge if confirmed, condemning allegations that he is antisemitic or anti-law enforcement.

  • April 22, 2024

    Trump Led Plot To Undermine 2016 Election, NY Jury Told

    A prosecutor told a Manhattan jury on Monday that Donald Trump was the head of a conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election through hush-money payments, kicking off the first criminal trial of a former president.

Expert Analysis

  • 5 Keys To A Productive Mediation

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Cortney Young at ADR Partners discusses factors that can help to foster success in mediation, including scheduling, preparation, managing client expectations and more.

  • Evaluating The Legal Ethics Of A ChatGPT-Authored Motion

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    Aimee Furness and Sam Mallick at Haynes Boone asked ChatGPT to draft a motion to dismiss, and then scrutinized the resulting work product in light of attorneys' ethical and professional responsibility obligations.

  • Jan. 6 Panel Transcripts Highlight Attorney Ethics Issues

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    Recently released transcripts of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony to the U.S. House Jan. 6 committee demonstrate that there is always a lurking conflict when someone other than the client is paying the fee, and that disclosure must therefore be painstaking and extensive, says Steven Lubet at Northwestern University.

  • 7 Tips To Increase Your Law Firm's DEI Efforts In 2023

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    Law firms looking to advance their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts should consider implementing new practices and initiatives this year, including some that require nominal additional effort or expense, say Janet Falk at Falk Communications and Gina Rubel at Furia Rubel.

  • Series

    Keys To A 9-0 High Court Win: Get Back To Home Base

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    When I argued for the petitioner in Morgan v. Sundance before the U.S. Supreme Court last year, I made the idea of consistency the cornerstone of my case and built a road map for my argument to ensure I could always return to that home-base theme, says Karla Gilbride at Public Justice.

  • Atty-Client Privilege Arguments Give Justices A Moving Target

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    Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case regarding the scope of the attorney-client privilege appeared to raise more questions about multipurpose counsel communications than they answered, as the parties presented shifting iterations of a predictable, easily applied test for evaluating the communications' purpose, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.

  • 5 Gen X Characteristics That Can Boost Legal Leadership

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    As Generation X attorneys rise to fill top roles in law firms and corporations left by retiring baby boomers, they should embrace generational characteristics that will allow them to become better legal leaders, says Meredith Kahan at Whiteford Taylor.

  • 6 Questions For Boutique Firms Considering Mergers

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    To prepare for discussions with potential merger partners, boutique law firms should first consider the challenges they hope to address with a merger and the qualities they prioritize in possible partner firms, say Howard Cohl and Ron Nye at Major Lindsey.

  • Del. Justices' Reversal Of Boardwalk Award May Apply Widely

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    The Delaware Supreme Court's recent Boardwalk Pipeline v. Bandera Master Fund decision that a general partner wasn't liable for willful misconduct is likely to have wide applicability for noncorporate entities, which courts are unlikely to view as entitled to more protection than Boardwalk's public unit holders, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • 5 Tips For Adding Value To Legal Clients' Experience In 2023

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    Faced with a potential economic downturn this year, attorneys should look to strengthen client relationships now by focusing on key ways to improve the client experience, starting with a check-in call to discuss client needs and priorities for the coming year, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • 6 Ways To Avoid Compounding Errors When Practicing Law

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    For lawyers and law firms, inevitable human error can lead to claims of malpractice or ethical violations, but the key is to avoid exacerbating mistakes by adding communication failures, conflicts of interest or insurance coverage losses, says Mark Hinderks at Stinson.

  • What Will Keep Legal Talent Professionals Up At Night In 2023

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    Hybrid work environments, high demand for lateral hires and a potential slowdown of the economy defined 2022 in the always-busy marketplace for legal talent, and as BigLaw looks at the year ahead, there are five major sources of concern for the teams charged with securing and retaining that talent, say advisers at Baretz+Brunelle.

  • The Most-Read Legal Industry Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

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    A range of legal industry topics drew readers' attention in Law360's Expert Analysis section this year, from the "great resignation" to potential expansion of attorney-client privilege.

  • What 3 Legal Industry Trends From 2022 Mean For Next Year

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    Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey & Africa looks back on the year in legal recruiting, including practice areas that saw the most movement, which regions seemed most ripe for new office openings and who was promoted to partner, and makes some look-ahead predictions for 2023.

  • Learning From This Year's Legal Industry Discrimination Suits

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    To limit the risk of lawsuits and make the workplace a more welcoming environment for female attorneys, it is important to reflect on lawyers' recent discrimination and sexual harassment claims against law firms and public employers, says Hope Comisky at Griesing Law.

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