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Legal Ethics
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October 21, 2024
Last-Minute Letter Delays Mich. Atty's Voting Machine Trial
A Michigan state judge delayed a jury trial Monday for a lawyer accused of unlawfully accessing 2020 voting machines, after the attorney accused prosecutors overnight of hiding a letter outlining county clerks' "prerogative" to release the machines to some parties.
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October 21, 2024
9th Circ. Revives Atty's ADA Suit Against Calif. Bar
The State Bar of California may not have sovereign immunity that would allow it to duck an attorney's federal lawsuit claiming it failed to provide him with adequate disability accommodations during a bar exam amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ninth Circuit said Monday.
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October 21, 2024
Ga. Atty Admits To Role In $1.3B Tax Shelter Scheme
A Georgia attorney has pled guilty in federal court related to helping orchestrate a $1.3 billion tax scheme involving fraudulent conservation easements, making him the 12th person convicted over the plot, including another attorney who was handed a 23-year prison sentence.
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October 21, 2024
Philly Judge Challenges Sanction For Unapproved Absence
A Philadelphia Municipal Court judge is appealing sanctions ordered by a Pennsylvania disciplinary court which found she had committed an ethical violation when she prematurely signed court paperwork in order to take an unapproved personal day to travel to Florida.
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October 21, 2024
Judge Cites University Ties To Bow Out Of Aid-Fixing Suit
An Illinois federal judge has recused herself from a proposed antitrust class action against 40 private colleges, reasoning that she has a relationship with one of the university defendants.
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October 21, 2024
Conn. Firm Says Attys, Restaurants Filed 'Malicious' Suit
A restaurant chain and its attorneys abused the legal process by "frivolously and maliciously" suing a plaintiff-side firm after it ran ads alerting workers they might have wage claims against the restaurant, a lawsuit filed in Connecticut state court has alleged.
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October 21, 2024
Justices Pass On Cohen Suit Blaming Trump For Prison Stint
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a case brought against Donald Trump by his former personal attorney Michael Cohen, who claimed that he was vindictively put in prison for writing a memoir that painted the former president in a negative light.
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October 21, 2024
Nurick Law Group Settles NJ Suit Over Whistleblower Case
Pennsylvania-based Nurick Law Group LLC has settled a legal malpractice case brought by a former employee of an HVAC company who claimed that the firm mishandled his whistleblower case.
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October 21, 2024
Litigation Funding Firms Aim To Escape Hurricane Ad Suit
Two litigation funders are urging a Texas federal court to adopt a magistrate judge's recommendation to toss claims against them in a proposed class action alleging a law firm deceptively advertised to hurricane victims.
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October 21, 2024
Fla. Dept.'s Ex-GC Says Gov.'s Office Directed TV Ad Letters
The former general counsel for the Florida Department of Health said Monday that he was directed by Gov. Ron DeSantis' office to send out letters threatening television stations with criminal prosecution if they did not pull a campaign ad promoting an abortion rights ballot initiative.
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October 18, 2024
Law360 MVP Awards Go To Top Attys From 74 Firms
The attorneys chosen as Law360's 2024 MVPs have distinguished themselves from their peers by securing hard-earned successes in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.
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October 18, 2024
Texas Federal Judge Owned Tesla Stock After Taking X Suit
A Texas federal judge overseeing a high-profile case between X Corp. and a media watchdog bought and sold shares of Elon Musk's automotive company Tesla the same year that X filed the suit, according to financial disclosure reports.
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October 18, 2024
9th Circ. Judge Doubts AI 'Robot Judges' Can Replace Jurists
Ninth Circuit Judge William Fletcher expressed skepticism Friday that artificially intelligent "robot judges" should replace jurists, saying during a conference on complex litigation ethics that judges understand how to creatively apply the law to best serve justice, and "I don't trust the AI system to break the law when it should."
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October 18, 2024
Jan. 6 Witness Said Trump Speech May Have Been 'Political'
Donald Trump's speech at a rally before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol may have been "political" rather than in his official capacity as president, witness testimony unsealed Friday in his D.C. election interference case said.
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October 18, 2024
Judge Slams 'Lazy Lawyering' In Amazon Biometric Data Suit
The judge overseeing a proposed biometric privacy class action against Amazon Web Services Inc. in Delaware federal court chastised the plaintiffs' counsel for identically repleading a previously dismissed claim, calling the move "lazy lawyering" and warning of potential ramifications for "lying to the court."
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October 18, 2024
DC Firms Look To Exit Suit Over $120M Iraq Award
Pierson Ferdinand LLP and another boutique firm have urged the D.C. Circuit to let them withdraw as counsel for Iraq as the country looks to overturn an order allowing a construction firm permission to go after Iraqi assets to satisfy a $120 million judgment, saying the country owes some $25,000 in legal fees and has stopped responding to the firms' inquiries on the litigation.
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October 18, 2024
Fla. Atty Accused Of Trust Violations Faced Losing Her Home
The Florida Supreme Court on Friday gave an Orlando attorney accused of misusing client funds — which she said kept her out of homelessness — extra time to comply with a suspension order after she said hurricanes Helene and Milton displaced her from her home and her law office, complicating her ability to communicate with clients and access records.
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October 18, 2024
Blank Rome Attys Want Win In Corporate Client Ex-Atty Suit
A trio of Blank Rome LLP attorneys have asked a federal judge in Pennsylvania for an early win in a lawsuit from another attorney alleging they improperly helped her former client retaliate against her after she switched to the plaintiffs bar.
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October 18, 2024
Narrow Ga. Ruling On Atty-Client Privilege Draws Concerns
A recent divided Georgia Supreme Court decision found that jailhouse calls between a man convicted of assault and his then-attorney weren't off-limits to prosecutors, drawing concerns from some legal experts that the narrow reading of attorney-client privilege sets a "dangerous" precedent.
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October 18, 2024
Verbose BigLaw Attys Irk Judge: 'Not Serving You Well'
A Boston federal judge on Friday laid into attorneys for Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, and Ropes & Gray LLP for what she called needlessly aggressive and voluminous court filings in heated fraud litigation involving the sale of a Mexican funeral business.
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October 18, 2024
57 Scholars, Former Judges Call For High Court Term Limits
A group of 57 constitutional scholars and retired federal and state judges wrote a letter to the leaders of Congress on Wednesday urging them to establish term limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices, proposing guardrails that they said are "urgently needed at a time of plummeting confidence" in the nation's highest court.
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October 18, 2024
Fla. Judge Reprimanded For Opining In DQ Approvals
The Florida Supreme Court has reprimanded a state judge who admitted to making improper comments in orders of recusal that he granted in two separate criminal cases.
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October 18, 2024
Seton Hall Fights Moving Ex-Prez's Suit Over Law Clerk Ties
Seton Hall University has urged a New Jersey Superior Court judge to undo an order transferring a whistleblower suit by its former president out of Essex County because of a supposed conflict of interest involving the law clerk daughter of one of the defendants.
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October 18, 2024
Philly Atty Suspended After Guilty Plea In Pill Mill Scheme
A Philadelphia attorney who pled guilty to filling fraudulent opioid prescriptions in his side job as a part-time pharmacist had his law license suspended for a year and a day, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania announced.
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October 18, 2024
Atty Sanctioned For 'Indifference' In Tastykake Co. Bias Suit
An attorney's "indifference" to court orders and deadlines in a Black Muslim worker's wage and discrimination suit against the maker of Tastykake warrants $30,000 in sanctions, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, warning that more serious consequences might come.
Expert Analysis
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Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians
Although litigation won’t earn anyone an Olympic medal in Paris this summer, it can be worthy of the same lasting honor if attorneys exercise focused restraint — seeking both their clients’ interests and those of the court — instead of merely pursuing every advantage short of sanctionable conduct, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent
As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.
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Series
Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge at Robinson Bradshaw.
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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Perspectives
Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.
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Opinion
NY Should Pass Litigation Funding Bill To Protect Plaintiffs
New York state should embrace the regulatory framework proposed in the Consumer Litigation Funding Act, which would suppress the unregulated predatory lenders that currently prey on vulnerable litigants but preserve a funding option that helps personal injury plaintiffs stand up to deep-pocketed corporate defendants, says Alan Ripka at Alan Ripka & Associates.
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Series
Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.
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How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case
The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.
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High Court Injunction Case Could Shake Up Fee-Shifting Rules
In agreeing to review a Virginia case rendered statutorily moot before final judgment, the U.S. Supreme Court could finally settle the question of if — and when — a preliminary injunction can win attorney fees for a prevailing party, but all possible answers could disrupt fee-shifting schemes written into major laws, says Laurens Wilkes at Winston & Strawn.
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Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content
From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.
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Series
Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer
While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.
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Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance
A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.
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Trump Hush Money Case Offers Master Class In Trial Strategy
The New York criminal hush money trial of former President Donald Trump typifies some of the greatest challenges that lawyers face in crafting persuasive presentations, providing lessons on how to handle bad facts, craft a simple story that withstands attack, and cross-examine with that story in mind, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.