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Legal Ethics
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May 28, 2024
Ex-Florida Atty Accused Of Failing To Deliver Condo Proceeds
A disbarred attorney was sued in Florida state court by a client who alleged fraud and breach of fiduciary duty in a Miami Beach condominium foreclosure action, saying he misappropriated more than $68,000 in proceeds.
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May 28, 2024
Ex-Ill. Prosecutor Arrested, Charged For Woodchipper Threat
A former assistant state's attorney in suburban Chicago's DuPage County has been arrested and charged with threatening the children of two Illinois state representatives in an online post in which he allegedly suggested he would put them into a woodchipper.
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May 28, 2024
Wisconsin Atty Gets 5½ Years For $2.3M Fraud, Tax Evasion
An attorney licensed in Wisconsin has been sentenced to 5½ years in federal prison and ordered to pay around $2.3 million in restitution for her involvement in multiple fraud schemes, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
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May 28, 2024
American To Cut Attys Who Blamed Child Filmed In Bathroom
Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP attorneys are on the brink of being removed as counsel for American Airlines in a Texas state lawsuit over an ex-flight attendant's secret bathroom recording of a 9-year-old girl.
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May 28, 2024
Coverage Recap: Day 17 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 recap from day 17.
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May 28, 2024
Calif. Judge Cops To Ethics Charges, Agrees To Step Down
A California judge censured and barred for multiple ethics violations, including drug use, inappropriate personal relationships with attorneys and making inappropriate comments, including antisemitic remarks, about litigants and attorneys, has resigned as of Monday.
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May 28, 2024
Ga. Law Firm Beats Sanctions Over Fatal Crash Mistrial
The Georgia Court of Appeals has thrown out sanctions against an Atlanta civil litigation law firm requiring the firm to pay more than $584,000 in attorney fees and costs for not uncovering a purported conflict that caused a mistrial in a fatal crash lawsuit, finding the trial court's decision was excessive and not supported by evidence.
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May 28, 2024
Trump's Florida Prosecutors Scolded For Gag Order Filing
The Florida federal judge overseeing Donald Trump's classified documents case on Tuesday temporarily rejected the government's request for a limited gag order and admonished prosecutors for what she said was a lack of "substance and professional courtesy" in their conferral with defense attorneys before filing the motion.
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May 28, 2024
Beasley Allen, J&J Trade Barbs Over DQ Bid In Talc Litigation
Johnson & Johnson and the Beasley Allen Law Firm have accused each other by turns of "gamesmanship" and "unscrupulous conduct" in New Jersey courts in a fight over whether the firm should be disqualified from talcum powder litigation for allegedly collaborating in secret with a former J&J outside counsel.
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May 28, 2024
Legal Lenders Can't Avoid Hurricane Ads Suit, Plaintiff Argues
Funding companies that lent $20 million to a Texas law firm accused of using it to deceptively solicit hurricane victims can't escape liability by claiming they didn't know how attorneys were using the money or "simply because they don't have offices in the state," according to a Louisiana woman at the forefront of a putative class action.
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May 28, 2024
Justices Won't Hear Avenatti Appeal Of Nike Conviction
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal from Michael Avenatti challenging his conviction for trying to extort millions from Nike, with the high court's rejection ending the disbarred attorney's chances at overturning one of his three criminal convictions.
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May 28, 2024
Lin Wood Wants Fraud Claims Kept Out Of Defamation Trial
Controversial attorney Lin Wood has asked a Georgia federal judge to bar his former law partners, who allege he falsely accused them of attempted extortion, from introducing evidence at an upcoming August trial related to two separate and still pending suits filed against him in Fulton County.
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May 28, 2024
Serial Numbers Tie Gold Bars To Menendez, Jury Hears
The executive assistant of a New Jersey real estate developer on trial alongside U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez linked her boss to some of the gold bars found in the congressman's New Jersey home, confirming Tuesday that the serial numbers of her employer's stash of bars matched the ones stamped on the flashy evidence.
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May 24, 2024
5 Themes That Could Determine Trump's NY Criminal Trial
With closing arguments set for Tuesday morning in Donald Trump's New York hush money case and deliberations on the horizon, here's a look at the themes that have dominated the historic, monthlong trial so far.
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May 24, 2024
Fla. Bar Seeks Longer Penalty Over Atty's Campaign Speech
In a notice filed with the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday, the Florida Bar said it would seek a 91-day suspension for Georgia-based attorney Christopher W. Crowley, rather than a recommended 60-day suspension after a referee said Crowley disparaged Amira Fox several times when both were running for 20th Judicial Circuit state attorney.
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May 24, 2024
No-Show Plaintiff, 'Jackass' Atty Booted Too Fast, Court Says
A Michigan appellate court sympathized with a trial court dealing with a no-show plaintiff and his lawyer who acted like a "jackass" — according to one appellate judge — but ruled Thursday that the trial court needed to do a better job documenting why it tossed the case instead of issuing a lesser sanction.
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May 24, 2024
Carhartt Heiress Atty Can't Get Mistrial Over Own Witness
A Michigan attorney can't get a mistrial in a criminal case accusing him of embezzling millions from his wealthy Carhartt heiress client after his own witness discussed the heiress' $37 million potential loss during cross-examination, with a state judge saying Friday he was mystified why the witness was even called but that the defense had insisted on it.
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May 24, 2024
Cannabis Company Fights Sanctions Bid In $10M Contract Suit
A cannabis company has opposed a sanctions request in a dispute surrounding its merger with Connecticut marijuana business Theraplant LLC, saying it met document production deadlines despite an opposing attorney's claim that he couldn't open a link emailed at 11:53 p.m. via a password that followed at 11:59 p.m.
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May 24, 2024
NJ Panel Won't Revive Atty's Turnpike Authority Harassment Suit
A New Jersey state appeals court panel stood by an attorney's loss Friday in his suit claiming the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and its officials held him back from promotions and raises and harassed him based on his military service in the U.S. National Guard.
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May 24, 2024
Atty Says Loss Of BP Spill Claim Was Client's Fault, Not Firm's
Texas attorney Brent W. Coon has told a Houston court that his firm's alleged botching of a former client's lawsuit stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill was actually the client's fault, as he failed to provide the firm with a sworn statement to attach to his complaint per a court's order.
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May 24, 2024
Alec Baldwin Must Face 'Rust' Shooting Charges
A New Mexico state judge on Friday denied Alec Baldwin's motion to dismiss his indictment on involuntary manslaughter charges in the fatal on-set shooting of a cinematographer during the filming of "Rust" in Santa Fe, rejecting the actor's claims of prosecutorial misconduct before the grand jury.
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May 24, 2024
Biden's Judicial Impact And What's Left On The Wish List
President Joe Biden secured confirmation of his 200th federal judge Wednesday and has transformed the judiciary by picking more women and people of color than any other president. But the upcoming election season could derail his hopes of confirming many more judges.
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May 24, 2024
Ga. Appeals Seat Winner Faces Challenge Over Residency
A Georgia attorney is looking to pause the certification of Tuesday's election win by a onetime state bar leader for a Georgia Court of Appeals seat, arguing that he lied about his Atlanta residence when he qualified to run for the judgeship since he allegedly lived in Tennessee.
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May 24, 2024
Exiled Chinese Businessman Is No $1B Fraudster, Jury Told
Exiled Chinese businessman and purported billionaire Guo Wengui ran legitimate companies in support of a broad movement that opposed the Chinese Communist Party, his attorney told a Manhattan federal jury Friday, rather than what prosecutors say was a multifaceted $1 billion fraud.
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May 24, 2024
Alito Flag Displays 'Improper' And 'Dumb,' District Judge Says
A Massachusetts federal judge is calling out U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for controversial flags reportedly seen flying outside his homes, saying such actions erode public trust in the courts.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Keys To A 9-0 High Court Win: Get Back To Home Base
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.
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Atty-Client Privilege Arguments Give Justices A Moving Target
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.
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5 Gen X Characteristics That Can Boost Legal Leadership
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.
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6 Questions For Boutique Firms Considering Mergers
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.
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Del. Justices' Reversal Of Boardwalk Award May Apply Widely
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.
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5 Tips For Adding Value To Legal Clients' Experience In 2023
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.
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6 Ways To Avoid Compounding Errors When Practicing Law
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.
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What Will Keep Legal Talent Professionals Up At Night In 2023
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.
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The Most-Read Legal Industry Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022
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.
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What 3 Legal Industry Trends From 2022 Mean For Next Year
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.
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Learning From This Year's Legal Industry Discrimination Suits
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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The Other Side Says Your Evidence Is A Deepfake. Now What?
Recent trials have shown that defendants are increasingly casting doubt on the reliability of video evidence by claiming it was altered by artificial intelligence, and litigants will need to incorporate certain best practices to approach the risk of deepfakes — even if there’s no credible basis for the opposing party’s accusation, say Matthew Ferraro and Brent Gurney at WilmerHale.
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Series
The Future Of Legal Ops: AI Has Important Role To Play
Though the debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT has prompted some fears about negative impact on lawyers, artificial intelligence technology can be a powerful tool for legal operations professionals if used effectively to augment their work, say Justin Ben-Asher and Gwendolyn Renigar at Steptoe, and Elizabeth Matthews at TotalEnergies.
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4 Proactive Strategies For 'Rocket Docket' Discovery In SDNY
With more than half of Southern District of New York judges now allowing four or fewer months for fact discovery, civil litigators in this aspiring "rocket docket" jurisdiction should prioritize case management methods that make the most of this compressed timeline, say Jaclyn Grodin and Nicholas Cutaia at Goulston & Storrs.
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Opinion
Increasing Law Firm Polarization Will Degrade Rule Of Law
As evidenced in recent instances of law firms separating from attorneys who represented certain industries or espoused certain views, firms and the legal practice itself have grown troublingly polarized and intolerant of dissent, says Rebecca Roiphe at New York Law School.