Legal Ethics

  • June 10, 2024

    Amid FBI Probe, Troubled Law Firm Gets Fees Win At 5th Circ.

    An embattled Texas law firm has won another shot to secure fees for its work on hurricane-related cases in Louisiana, the Fifth Circuit ruled, one day after the FBI revealed it was investigating the firm over its client solicitation practices.

  • June 10, 2024

    Kirkland Faces Class Claims Over Breach Of File Transfer Tool

    A proposed class of victims of a data breach has sued Kirkland & Ellis LLP and various other entities in a Massachusetts federal court, accusing them of failing to "properly secure and safeguard [the] plaintiff's and other similarly situated individuals' private information" in the lead-up to the massive 2023 MOVEit data breach.

  • June 10, 2024

    Lin Wood's Ex-Colleagues Push To Keep Fraud Claims In Trial

    Former law partners of controversial attorney Lin Wood have urged a Georgia federal court to block Wood's request to exclude unadjudicated allegations he committed fraud and contract breach, arguing that the details are relevant in an upcoming trial over the ex-colleagues' claims that Wood defamed them.

  • June 10, 2024

    Ga. Judge's Call To Atty Friend Among Ethics Charges

    A Georgia state judge is facing a host of ethics charges, including that she improperly dialed up an attorney friend and later gave her preferential scheduling in a child custody case and, in another case, took more than two years to issue an order to change custody of minor children.

  • June 10, 2024

    Cozen O'Connor Booted From Pa. Equal Pay Case

    Cozen O'Connor has been booted off a Pennsylvania school district's equal-pay lawsuit that was being overseen by a judge with personal ties to the firm, according to an order the judge issued Monday.

  • June 10, 2024

    Tampa-Area Doctor May Sue Attorney, Appeals Court Says

    A doctor's lawsuit over a medical bill dispute with a personal injury lawyer involving one of the lawyer's injured clients may proceed, a Florida appeals court has ruled.

  • June 11, 2024

    UPDATED: Court Says Eastman Disbarment Order Filed In Error

    A California federal court has nixed an order disbarring former Donald Trump lawyer John C. Eastman from the venue, saying in a notice filed Tuesday that the document was filed by mistake.

  • June 10, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Big players and big moves dominated much of the past week in Delaware's Court of Chancery, as Tesla in particular and big corporations in general showed their pique over rulings that went toward stockholders or against conventional expectations.

  • June 10, 2024

    Senate Judiciary Panel Urged To Investigate High Court Ethics

    The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights sent a letter on Monday urging the "full power" of the Senate Judiciary Committee be used to investigate the latest "ethics crisis" at the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • June 07, 2024

    Blank Rome Escapes 'Lamentable Saga' In 'Killer Nurse' Case

    A Pennsylvania appellate panel, in what it dubbed "the final chapter in this lamentable saga," affirmed Friday a lower court's order dismissing an attorney's defamation claims against Blank Rome LLP and a hospital that once employed a now-infamous "killer nurse" who pleaded guilty to murdering his patients.

  • June 07, 2024

    Speech Pathologists Say BakerHostetler Bungled Biz Deal

    A trio of Los Angeles-based speech pathologists have filed a malpractice suit against their former BakerHostetler counsel in California state court, accusing the firm and an Ohio-based partner of negligence in failing to properly advise them amid a business deal, allegedly resulting in the therapists losing their successful practice and more than $1 million.

  • June 07, 2024

    Split 9th Circ. Revives LA Schools Vaccine Policy Row

    A split Ninth Circuit panel on Friday reversed a California federal court's dismissal of a proposed class action challenging a recently rescinded Los Angeles Unified School District policy requiring employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine to keep their jobs, ruling that the district still has the potential to reinstate it.

  • June 07, 2024

    Susman Attys Can Exit IP Suit Amid Arigna's Row With Funder

    New York boutique firm Susman Godfrey LLP has persuaded a D.C. federal judge to let the firm out of having to represent patent litigation business Arigna Technology Ltd. following a breakdown in the firm's arrangement with the business's litigation funder.

  • June 07, 2024

    Trump Can Bring Atty To Presentence Interview

    A New York judge ruled Friday that Donald Trump can bring his attorney with him when he sits down with a New York City probation officer for a presentence interview, granting an unusual accommodation to the former president before he is sentenced for his criminal conviction next month.

  • June 07, 2024

    6th Circ. Revives Investors' Suit Over Leech Tishman Advice

    A Sixth Circuit panel has revived a group of investors' claims that Pittsburgh-based Leech Tishman Fuscaldo & Lampl's lawyers gave fraudulent and negligent advice about clean energy investments that turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, reasoning that a one-year statute of limitations had been tolled for some claims and didn't apply to others.

  • June 07, 2024

    Contractor Claims No Bad Intentions In Talking To Juror

    A general contractor has doubled down on his bid to throw out a contempt conviction for talking to a juror before his suit was officially settled, telling a North Carolina appeals court he genuinely believed the case was over and didn't intend to disrupt the court or violate any order.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • What Large Language Models Mean For Document Review

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    Courts often subject parties using technology assisted review to greater scrutiny than parties conducting linear, manual document review, so parties using large language models for document review should expect even more attention, along with a corresponding need for quality control and validation, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Series

    Participating In Living History Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My role as a baron in a living history group, and my work as volunteer corporate counsel for a book series fan association, has provided me several opportunities to practice in unexpected areas of law — opening doors to experiences that have nurtured invaluable personal and professional skills, says Matthew Parker at the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

  • Opinion

    Private Equity Owners Can Remedy Law Firms' Agency Issues

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    Nonlawyer, private-equity ownership of law firms can benefit shareholders and others vulnerable to governance issues such as disparate interests, and can in turn help resolve agency problems, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • How To Protect Atty-Client Privilege While Using Generative AI

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    When using generative artificial intelligence tools, attorneys should consider several safeguards to avoid breaches or complications in attorney-client privilege, say Antonious Sadek and Christopher Campbell at DLA Piper.

  • How New Lawyers Can Leverage Feedback For Growth

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    Embracing constructive criticism as a tool for success can help new lawyers accelerate their professional growth and law firms build a culture of continuous improvement, says Katie Aldrich at Fringe Professional Development.

  • Twitter Legal Fees Suit Offers Crash Course In Billing Ethics

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    X Corp.'s suit alleging that Wachtell grossly inflated its fees in the final days of Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition provides a case study in how firms should protect their reputations by hewing to ethical billing practices and the high standards for professional conduct that govern attorney-client relationships, says Lourdes Fuentes at Karta Legal.

  • ABA's Money-Laundering Resolution Is A Balancing Act

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    While the American Bar Association’s recently passed resolution recognizes a lawyer's duty to discontinue representation that could facilitate money laundering and other fraudulent activity, it preserves, at least for now, the delicate balance of judicial, state-based regulation of the legal profession and the sanctity of the attorney-client relationship, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • Law Firm Professional Development Steps To Thrive In AI Era

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools rapidly evolve, professional development leaders are instrumental in preparing law firms for the paradigm shifts ahead, and should consider three strategies to help empower legal talent with the skills required to succeed in an increasingly complex technological landscape, say Steve Gluckman and Anusia Gillespie at SkillBurst Interactive.

  • Nev. Insurance Law May Mean Turmoil In Liability Market

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    Nevada's new law prohibiting insurers from issuing or renewing defense-within-limits liability policies in the state could cause professional liability insurers to withdraw certain products or prohibitively increase premiums — and while an emergency regulation allows for exceptions, the situation remains fluid, says Joshua Leach at Atheria Law.

  • Lessons From High-Profile Witness Tampering Allegations

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    As demonstrated by recent developments in the cases against former President Donald Trump and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, allegations of witness tampering can carry serious consequences — but attorneys can employ certain strategies to mitigate the risk that accusations arise, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.

  • Covington Ruling Strengthens SEC's Enforcement Powers

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    A Washington, D.C., federal court’s recent order that Covington & Burling provide the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with the identities of its clients in response to a subpoena reinforces the agency’s broad authority to investigate cybersecurity violations, and suggests law firms must take steps to strengthen data privacy, say Elisha Kobre and Ryan Dean at Bradley Arant.

  • 'Blind Side' Family Case Is A Cautionary Tale For Attorneys

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    Former NFL player Michael Oher's recent allegations against Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy that they never legally adopted him and tricked him into conservatorship — which paint a very different picture than the 2009 film "The Blind Side" — demonstrate the importance of attorney due diligence and safeguards against abuse of process, says Roland Weekley at Smith Gambrell.

  • The Basics Of Being A Knowledge Management Attorney

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Michael Lehet at Ogletree Deakins discusses the role of knowledge management attorneys at law firms, the common tasks they perform and practical tips for lawyers who may be considering becoming one.

  • To Hire And Keep Top Talent, Think Beyond Compensation

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    Firms seeking to appeal to sophisticated clients and top-level partners should promote mentorship, ensure that attorneys from diverse backgrounds feel valued, and clarify policies about at-home work, says Patrick Moya at Quaero Group.

  • Ethics Issues For Mainland Firms Involved In Maui Fire Suits

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    Before law firms located outside of Hawaii represent clients affected by the Lahaina wildfires, they must be aware of local ethics rules and regulatory gray areas, as any any ethical missteps could have major ramifications for the firm's practice in its home jurisdiction, says Ryan Little at Klinedinst.

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