Legal Ethics

  • June 03, 2024

    Title Insurer Says Ga. Firm Must Repay $158K For Deed Error

    A title insurance company said a Georgia law firm must reimburse it $158,000 for negligently issuing a title insurance policy on a real estate closing, telling a Georgia federal court that it is entitled to contractual and common law indemnity for its losses.

  • June 03, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Delaware's Court of Chancery pushed out tons of decisions last week, along with a second round of new rules and letters of concern over pending changes to the state's corporate law code. The court's docket was as busy as ever, with new cases involving Tesla CEO Elon Musk, FTX cryptocurrency claims, and more. In case you missed it, here's the latest from Delaware's Chancery Court.

  • June 03, 2024

    Lawyer Sues Ex, Attys After $30K Law School Loan Judgment

    A Florida employment lawyer's onetime romantic partner and her attorneys conspired with a Wells Fargo consultant to concoct a phony and vexatious lawsuit against him amid a fight over his student loan payments and child visitation rights, according to a lawsuit filed in Connecticut federal court.

  • June 03, 2024

    Bid To Disqualify Firm In Hawaii Warehouse Suit Denied

    A Hawaii federal magistrate judge has denied a bid to disqualify McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon LLP from representing Schulte Building Systems in litigation accusing the manufacturer of producing shoddy steel components for certain agricultural warehouses in Oahu.

  • June 03, 2024

    Standards Are Murky As Legal Employers Vet Protesters

    As violence in Gaza rages on, law firms have vowed not to employ lawyers whose activism for Palestinian rights they deem unacceptable. But "unacceptable" is in the eye of the beholder, and that makes it difficult for law students and lawyers who advocate for a ceasefire to navigate the workplace and the job market.

  • June 03, 2024

    Ga. Appeals Court May Hear Trump-Willis DQ Fight On Oct. 4

    The Georgia Court of Appeals has set a tentative date of Oct. 4 to hear arguments from former President Donald Trump's lawyers that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from his election interference case over her personal relationship with the special prosecutor she hired to lead the case.

  • June 03, 2024

    Tubi Accuses Keller Postman Of Filing Frivolous Arbitrations

    Streaming service company Tubi Inc. is going after a plaintiffs firm in Washington, D.C., federal court, alleging it has engaged in a mass arbitration scheme in which the firm has filed more than 23,000 allegedly frivolous or fraudulent demands for arbitration in attempts to force the company to settle.

  • June 03, 2024

    3rd Circ. Backs Bad Subpoena Sanction In Race, Sex Bias Suit

    The Third Circuit has upheld a $6,720 fee sanction against a New Jersey attorney for serving an intentionally misleading subpoena while representing a Garden State management company against federal race and sex bias claims.

  • June 03, 2024

    Law Firm Faces Sanctions Bid For Happy Meal 'Extortion' Suit

    McDonald's has urged a Florida federal court to sanction Fischer Redavid PLLC and its clients for bringing a recently dismissed lawsuit seeking a warning on Happy Meal containers, accusing them of trying to extort the company for a bigger payout after securing an $800,000 jury verdict in a related case for the second-degree burns suffered by a girl from a dangerously hot Chicken McNugget.

  • June 03, 2024

    Tax Crime Lacked 'Meeting Of Minds' With Atty, 5th Circ. Told

    A Houston personal injury attorney told the Fifth Circuit on Monday that prosecutors didn't provide enough evidence at trial to show that he intentionally planned to help another lawyer evade federal income taxes as he pushed the court to vacate his conviction for his involvement in a multimillion-dollar ambulance-chasing kickback scheme.

  • June 03, 2024

    Atty May Face Suspension In State Street Billing Row

    A Massachusetts disciplinary committee has recommended a six-month suspension for the former managing partner of Thornton Law Firm LLP for his alleged neglect in signing an inflated attorney fees declaration in a class action against State Street.

  • June 01, 2024

    Blockbuster Summer: 10 Big Issues Justices Still Must Decide

    As the calendar flips over to June, the U.S. Supreme Court still has heaps of cases to decide on issues ranging from trademark registration rules to judicial deference and presidential immunity. Here, Law360 looks at 10 of the most important topics the court has yet to decide.

  • May 31, 2024

    Girardi Not Famous Like Avenatti, Feds Say In Panning Jury Form

    Prosecutors pushed back Friday on Tom Girardi's request to ask prospective jurors in his California federal fraud trial if they have seen his wife's television show or reports about his law firm's scandal, saying Girardi's fame is not similar to convicted attorney Michael Avenatti's, whose case included a written juror questionnaire.

  • May 31, 2024

    NY Trump Verdict May Make Finding Ga. Jurors Harder

    Former President Donald Trump's felony conviction in New York could make the already daunting task of finding fair and impartial jurors to serve on the jury in the Georgia election interference case even more difficult when it reaches trial, legal experts told Law360 on Friday.

  • May 31, 2024

    Orrick's $8M Deal To End Data Breach Claims Nears Prelim OK

    A California federal judge indicated Friday that she'll preliminarily approve Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP's $8 million deal to end putative class claims over a 2023 data breach that purportedly exposed personal information for 638,000 individuals, but said the "very broad" scope of the settlement's release "raised my eyebrows."

  • May 31, 2024

    Class Wants Holland & Hart Deposed Over Discovery Lapses

    A Washington consumer bringing a class action against High 5 Games is seeking to depose the company's defense team, accusing its employees and attorneys of a "years-long campaign of discovery misconduct" that hid records showing the game seller targeted gambling addicts for profit on its social casino apps deceptively marketed as free-to-play.

  • May 31, 2024

    Venezuela Can't DQ Special Master As Citgo Auction Looms

    Venezuela has again fallen short in its efforts to disqualify the special master overseeing the auction of Citgo's parent company to satisfy billions of dollars worth of the country's debt, after a Delaware judge ruled on Friday afternoon that its motivations behind the motion are "suspect."

  • May 31, 2024

    Ore. Watchdog Says Open Discipline Makes 'Stronger' Attys

    An Oregon attorney watchdog group said Friday that the state's radical transparency in attorney disciplinary proceedings makes for "stronger lawyers," arguing largely open access to records and trials has combated misconceptions that regulators are there to protect lawyers.

  • May 31, 2024

    Edelson Calls Coach's Attack On Abuse Suit 'Meritless'

    Edelson PC is urging a Cook County judge to toss a lawsuit from youth volleyball coach Rick Butler and his volleyball club looking to hold the firm liable for lodging allegedly "bogus" sex-abuse claims against the coach, calling it a "meritless" attempt to rehash their failed federal sanctions bid.

  • May 31, 2024

    How Trump's Hush Money Sentencing Could Get 'Dicey'

    Now convicted of nearly three dozen felonies, former President Donald Trump must move through the machinery of the New York state court system's sentencing process, which involves sitting down for an interview with a probation officer and a chance to directly address a judge he's called biased and "corrupt."

  • May 31, 2024

    Off The Bench: NCAA Transfers Freed, Atty Plays Cards Right

    In this week's Off the Bench, the NCAA agrees to more historic rule changes while experts examine its post-House settlement future, and a patent lawyer looks back at his transformation into a poker champion.

  • May 31, 2024

    Trump's New York Prosecutors Called To House Hearing

    Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, demanded on Friday that Manhattan prosecutors appear for a hearing on June 13 on the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, who was convicted on Thursday of 34 felonies.

  • May 31, 2024

    Mich. Atty Used Carhartt Heiress As 'ATM,' Jury Told

    A Michigan attorney never intended to pay back millions of dollars that he lent himself from his wealthy client's irrevocable trust, state prosecutors told a Detroit jury Friday, and instead used the Carhartt heiress's failing health to create his own business empire.

  • May 31, 2024

    Lindell No-Shows Amid Solvency Concerns In Sanctions Fight

    Attorneys for My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell were nowhere to be found Friday as a D.C. federal judge mulled how much they should pay in sanctions for counterclaims in election company Dominion's ongoing libel suit, saying he'd likely set an amount in the coming weeks.

  • May 31, 2024

    Illinois Strengthens Atty Ethics Rules For Harassment, Bias

    The Illinois Supreme Court has announced that the state's professional conduct rules for attorneys have been amended to deem the act of engaging in harassment or discrimination as professional misconduct, and not just in the event a court or administrative agency finds that a lawyer violated a law prohibiting such actions.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Stanford Law Protest Highlights Rise Of Incivility In Discourse

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    The recent Stanford Law School incident, where students disrupted a speech by U.S. Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, should be a reminder to teach law students how to be effective advocates without endangering physical and mental health, says Nancy Rapoport at the University of Nevada.

  • Dispute Prevention Strategies To Halt Strife Before It Starts

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    With geopolitical turbulence presenting increased risks of business disputes amid court backlogs and ballooning costs, companies should consider building mechanisms for dispute prevention into newly established partnerships to constructively resolve conflicts before they do costly damage, say Ellen Waldman and Allen Waxman at the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution.

  • Practical Skills Young Attorneys Must Master To Be Happier

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    For young lawyers, finding happiness on the job — with its competitive nature and high expectations for billable hours — is complicated, but three skills can help them gain confidence, reduce stress and demonstrate their professional value in ways they never imagined, says career counselor Susan Smith Blakely.

  • ABA Opinion Should Help Clarify Which Ethics Rules Apply

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    A recent American Bar Association opinion provides key guidance on interpreting ABA Model Rule 8.5's notoriously complex choice-of-law analysis — and should help lawyers authorized to practice in multiple jurisdictions determine which jurisdiction's ethics rules govern their conduct, say attorneys at HWG.

  • 4 Ways To Reboot Your Firm's Stalled Diversity Program

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    Law firms that have failed to see real progress despite years of diversity initiatives can move forward by committing to tackle four often-taboo obstacles that hinder diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, says Steph Maher at Jaffe.

  • DOJ's Google Sanctions Motion Shows Risks Of Auto-Deletion

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    The U.S. Department of Justice recently hit Google with a sanctions motion over its alleged failure to preserve relevant instant-messaging communications, a predicament that should be a wake-up call for counsel concerning the danger associated with automatic-deletion features and how it's been handled by the courts, say Oscar Shine and Emma Ashe at Selendy Gay.

  • What To Expect From A Litigation Finance Industry Recession

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    There's little data on how litigation finance would fare in a recession, but a look at stakeholders' incentives suggests corporate demand for litigation finance would increase in a recessionary environment, while the number of funders could shrink, says Matthew Oxman at LexShares.

  • Opinion

    SEC Needs To Support Crypto Gatekeepers

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has a significant responsibility to create and maintain a regulatory environment governing the crypto industry, but currently, crypto businesses — and their lawyers — often are punished for seeking to comply, says retired Wilson Sonsini partner Rob Rosenblum.

  • Trump Docs Investigation Has Lessons For White Collar Attys

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    Several of former President Donald Trump’s attorneys have found themselves in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigatory crosshairs, thus illustrating the risks criminal investigations can pose to both clients and attorneys — but lawyers can employ several best practices to help mitigate these risks, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.

  • Justices Leave Questions Open On Dual-Purpose Atty Advice

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury on grounds that certiorari was improvidently granted leaves unresolved a circuit split over the proper test for deciding when attorney-client privilege protects a lawyer's advice that has multiple purposes, say Susan Combs and Richard Kiely at Holland & Hart.

  • Steps Lawyers Can Take Following Involuntary Terminations

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    Though lawyers can struggle to recover from involuntary terminations, it's critical that they be able to step back, review any feedback given and look for opportunities for growth, say Jessica Hernandez at JLH Coaching & Consulting and Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub.

  • High Court Ax Of Atty-Client Privilege Case Deepens Split

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury as improvidently granted maintains a three-way circuit split on the application of attorney-client privilege to multipurpose communications, although the justices have at least shown a desire to address it, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.

  • 3 Job Satisfaction Questions For Partners Considering Moves

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    The post-pandemic rise in legal turnover may cause partners to ask themselves what they really want from their workplace, how they plan to grow their practice and when it's time to make a move, says Patrick Moya at Quaero Group.

  • 4 Exercises To Quickly Build Trust On Legal Teams

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    High-performance legal teams can intentionally build trust through a rigorous approach, including open-ended conversations and personality assessments, to help attorneys bond fast, even if they are new to the firm or group, says Ben Sachs at the University of Virginia School of Law.

  • Navigating Compensation Of Special Counsel In Bankruptcy

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    With professional liability litigation and disputes over attorney fees on the rise, nonbankruptcy lawyers must know how to determine if a client or opposing party is in bankruptcy, when to make such determinations, and what to do once they have that information, says Danielle Mashburn-Myrick at Phelps Dunbar.

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