Legal Ethics

  • June 07, 2024

    'Deceit On Deceit': 7th Circ. OKs Atty's Asset-Hiding Sentence

    The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Chicago-area lawyer's three-year sentence for hiding over $350,000 in her brother's bankruptcy, finding two sentence enhancements were properly applied since she "layered deceit upon deceit" to try to conceal assets and cover her tracks.

  • June 07, 2024

    Justices Report Old Trips, Beyoncé Tickets And Royalties

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas disclosed Friday two trips he took in 2019 paid for by a Republican billionaire donor that were the subject of bombshell reporting last year, while his colleagues divulged more than $1.5 million in book-related income and several gifts, including Beyoncé tickets, in their annual financial reports.

  • June 07, 2024

    Ga. Appeals Seat Win Certified Amid Residency Challenge

    A former state bar leader who won a Georgia Court of Appeals seat escaped a challenge alleging he lied about living in Atlanta, with a state judge finding that the challenge was moot on Friday because the election had already occurred and the results were certified.

  • June 07, 2024

    6th Circ. Finds Ethical Lapses Justify Bar On Firm's Outreach

    The Sixth Circuit said Thursday a Michigan federal judge shouldn't have faulted a law firm for attacking a proposed tax foreclosure class-action settlement in solicitation letters, but nevertheless upheld the judge's order barring contact with certain class members because of the firm's actual ethical lapses.

  • June 07, 2024

    Judge Agrees To DQ Houston Firm In Fight Over MMA Law

    A Texas bankruptcy judge sided with troubled Houston firm MMA Law and agreed this week that another Houston firm, Okin Adams Bartlett Curry LLP, had received confidential information from MMA Law and should be disqualified from representing its creditors.

  • June 07, 2024

    Arizona GOP Fights Claims of Ethical Issues In Voting Dispute

    The Arizona Republican Party has every right to intervene in a challenge to a 2022 voting rights law that is headed to the Ninth Circuit, the party told a federal court, arguing that ethical concerns about its counsel raised by the state and its attorney general are "baseless" and "procedurally deficient."

  • June 07, 2024

    Mich. Atty Convicted Of Client's Murder Gets License Pulled

    The Michigan Attorney Discipline Board has suspended the license of a lawyer recently convicted of plotting to kill two of his clients, a jeweler and his wife, and of killing the jeweler, allegedly to gain access to their trust.

  • June 07, 2024

    Calif. Atty Faces Hacking Charge In Utility Billing Scandal

    A San Fernando Valley attorney accused of scheming with lawyers representing the city of Los Angeles to settle a customer billing class action favorably for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power also plotted to access the email and phone accounts of the judge overseeing the litigation, the State Bar of California asserted in an additional disciplinary charge filed Thursday.

  • June 07, 2024

    Atty Comms Are Fair Game After NJ Guilty Plea, Feds Say

    Prosecutors told a New Jersey federal court Friday that communications between convicted and later pardoned fraudster Eliyahu Weinstein and Shlomo Erez, his Israeli attorney, must be turned over in Weinstein's new fraud case as Erez pled guilty to involvement in the alleged scheme in late May.

  • June 07, 2024

    Southwest Attys Get Pause On 'Punitive' Religious Training

    In finding Friday that an order for several in-house Southwest Airlines attorneys to undergo "religious liberty training" should be permanently placed on hold while an appeal of a flight attendant's Title VII trial win is pending, the Fifth Circuit said the district court had likely exceeded "the scope of the court's civil-contempt authority."

  • June 07, 2024

    Woman Sues Atty After Colo. Justices Tossed Tardy Suit

    A woman whose personal injury suit was recently found to be untimely by the Colorado Supreme Court — which admitted case law in her circumstances is "confusing" — is now suing her former lawyer, alleging his delay cost her the case.

  • June 07, 2024

    Fla. Builder's Former In-House Atty Beats DQ Bid In Firing Suit

    A Florida federal judge has rejected a development company's bid to disqualify the Boatman Ricci law firm from representing the company's former in-house counsel in his wrongful termination lawsuit.

  • June 07, 2024

    Calif. Ex-Atty Beats $330K Malpractice Judgment On Appeal

    A former attorney escaped more than $300,000 in damages when a California appellate court ruled Friday that his former client didn't follow the proper procedure before receiving a default judgment in a case that's more than a decade old.

  • June 07, 2024

    Carhartt Heir's Atty Cleared On 2 Counts; Deadlock On Rest

    A Michigan state jury in Detroit on Friday partially cleared a Michigan attorney accused of stealing millions of dollars from his wealthy client, the late Carhartt company heiress Gretchen Valade, but jurors could not agree on two of four charges.

  • June 07, 2024

    Lewis Brisbois Wants Ex-Partner's Pay Bias Suit In Arbitration

    Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP has asked a Los Angeles court to force arbitration of claims lodged by a former partner in a suit accusing the firm of gender discrimination in pay and retaliation for raising concerns over its "unethical billing practices."

  • June 07, 2024

    Baker Donelson Can't Ax Ponzi Scheme Suit, Receiver Says

    A federal receiver has urged a Mississippi federal judge to reject Baker Donelson's summary judgment bid seeking a pretrial win on civil conspiracy claims the firm allowed a nine-figure timber business Ponzi scheme to unfold,

  • June 07, 2024

    Emboldened SEC Spells Double Trouble For Defense Bar

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division has taken an increasingly aggressive stance in recent years thanks in part to an influx of federal prosecutors joining the agency and court decisions that have gradually become more permissive on parallel civil and criminal investigations, defense lawyers say.

  • June 06, 2024

    'Any Judge' Should Have DQ'd In Romance Case, Attys Told

    A Texas federal judge was adamant Thursday that a former bankruptcy judge should have recused himself from an engineering company's Chapter 11 proceeding because of his relationship with a then-Jackson Walker LLP partner, but seemed torn over whether a lawsuit from a former shareholder over the secret relationship had a leg to stand on.

  • June 06, 2024

    White Collar Boutique Sued By Ex-Client Over Representation

    White collar boutique Clark Smith Villazor LLP and one of its name partners is facing a lawsuit from a former client, a convicted securities fraud defendant who claims the firm caused him to be arrested by the FBI and face millions of dollars in fines.

  • June 06, 2024

    Roundup MDL Judge Worries Plaintiffs Firms Overstretched

    A California federal judge presiding over multidistrict personal injury litigation over Monsanto's Roundup weed killer expressed concerns Thursday that plaintiffs firms may be taking on "a whole bunch of cases" they don't have the ability to prosecute just to settle "on the cheap," calling the prospect "a little bit disturbing."

  • June 06, 2024

    Media Matters Wants Order Blocking Missouri AG's X Probe

    Media Matters for America returned to D.C. federal court on Thursday to seek a court order barring Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey from investigating the progressive media watchdog over its reporting on X Corp., roughly two months after a D.C. federal judge barred Texas' attorney general from doing the same.

  • June 06, 2024

    In 13-Year Trademark Fight, Chicago Judge Says No More

    A Chicago federal judge brought to a close a trademark fight between two vaping companies surrounding the phrase "21st Century Smoking" that has stretched on for over a decade and led to millions of dollars in sanctions over thousands of deleted emails and long-hidden documents.

  • June 06, 2024

    Election Officials Blasted For Not Stopping Suspended Judge

    A Michigan state judge has said that election officials had abdicated their responsibility to keep "patently ineligible" candidates off the ballot, ordering them to stop former Detroit Judge Kahlilia Davis from running again after the state Supreme Court suspended her for six years for misconduct.

  • June 06, 2024

    Kline & Specter Calls Ex-Client's Suit A 'Sham'

    Kline & Specter PC and its founders have called a suit alleging they retaliated against an ex-client for dropping them to go with former firm associate Tom Bosworth a "sham" and a misuse of legal proceedings.

  • June 06, 2024

    Paxton Blasts Firing Suit Probe As 'Lobbying' Move

    The Texas Attorney General's Office has asked the state's Supreme Court to shut down whistleblowers' attempt to depose Attorney General Ken Paxton and several high-ranking staffers, saying the tactic is designed to persuade lawmakers to fund a judgment in the case when he is not contesting their claims.

Expert Analysis

  • The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms

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    In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.

  • Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary

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    The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence

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    Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • 1st Tax Easement Convictions Will Likely Embolden DOJ, IRS

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    After recent convictions in the first criminal tax fraud trial over allegedly abusive syndicated conservation easements, the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice will likely pursue other promoters for similar alleged conspiracies — though one acquittal may help attorneys better evaluate their clients' exposure, say Bill Curtis and Lauren DeSantis-Then at Polsinelli.

  • Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes

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    Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.

  • Pro Bono Work Is Powerful Self-Help For Attorneys

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    Oct. 22-28 is Pro Bono Week, serving as a useful reminder that offering free legal help to the public can help attorneys expand their legal toolbox, forge community relationships and create human connections, despite the challenges of this kind of work, says Orlando Lopez at Culhane Meadows.

  • Series

    Playing In A Rock Cover Band Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing in a classic rock cover band has driven me to hone several skills — including focus, organization and networking — that have benefited my professional development, demonstrating that taking time to follow your muse outside of work can be a boon to your career, says Michael Gambro at Cadwalader.

  • Series

    The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Espinosa On 'Lincoln Lawyer'

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    The murder trials in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” illustrate the stark contrast between the ethical high ground that fosters and maintains the criminal justice system's integrity, and the ethical abyss that can undermine it, with an important reminder for all legal practitioners, say Judge Adam Espinosa and Andrew Howard at the Colorado 2nd Judicial District Court.

  • What Panama Canal Award Ruling Means For Int'l Arbitration

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    As the prevalence of international arbitration grows, the Eighth Circuit’s recent decision in Grupo Unidos v. Canal de Panama may change how practitioners decide what remedies to seek and where to raise them if claims are rejected, says Jerry Roth at FedArb.

  • Opinion

    Newman Suspension Shows Need For Judicial Reform

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    The recent suspension of U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman following her alleged refusal to participate in a disability inquiry reveals the need for judicial misconduct reforms to ensure that judges step down when they can no longer serve effectively, says Aliza Shatzman at The Legal Accountability Project.

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