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Legal Ethics
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July 19, 2024
Prince Lobel Fires Atty Following Misconduct Investigation
A former general counsel for the Boston Cannabis Board turned chair of Prince Lobel Tye LLP's restaurant and hospitality group has been terminated by the Boston firm following an investigation, the firm confirmed to Law360 Pulse on Friday.
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July 19, 2024
NJ Justices To Review Ban On Out-Of-State Atty Referral Fees
The New Jersey Supreme Court will review an ethics advisory opinion that would ban Garden State-certified attorneys from paying referral fees to out-of-state attorneys, according to court orders filed Thursday.
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July 19, 2024
Calif. Firm Beats Rival's Claims In 'Sweet Justice' TM Fight
A California federal court on Thursday nixed a personal injury firm's countersuit against its rival in a battle over the trademark use of the term "Sweet Justice," ruling that the firm's counterclaims are a "mirror-image" of the underlying suit.
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July 19, 2024
2nd Circ. Upholds Ax Of Ex-Ropes & Gray Clerk's Bar Exam Suit
A former Ropes & Gray LLP attorney who was fired after twice failing the New York bar exam can't sue the state agency that administers the test for failing to accommodate her disabilities, the Second Circuit ruled Friday, finding the agency is protected by sovereign immunity.
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July 19, 2024
DOJ Fights Bid For Recording Of Biden's Hur Interview
An audio recording of President Joe Biden's interview with special counsel Robert Hur is protected by executive privilege, and so is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, despite what conservative organizations and media outlets have said, the U.S. Department of Justice told a Washington, D.C., federal judge.
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July 19, 2024
Draft Constitutional Amendment Would Ax Trump Immunity
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Friday released a draft of a constitutional amendment that would ensure no one is above the law, following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that former President Donald Trump has immunity from official acts as president.
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July 18, 2024
CoComelon Seeks Atty Fees And Sanctions After $23M IP Win
The company behind the popular children's YouTube channel CoComelon urged a California federal judge Thursday to follow up its $23.4 million copyright trial win by ordering a Chinese rival to pay an additional $6.5 million in attorney fees and costs, plus $1 million more for the rival's litigation misconduct.
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July 18, 2024
Texas IP Firm Fights Microsoft With Dueling Sanctions Bid
Prolific patent litigator Bill Ramey has pushed back against Microsoft's bid to sanction his law firm in Texas federal court, filing his own sanctions motion that claims the tech giant and its attorney "gleefully" filed an improper declaration in the case to defame him and his firm.
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July 18, 2024
Vidal Backs 'Egregious Abuse' Findings Against Vaccine Maker
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal has upheld a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision to punish Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics for "egregious abuse of the PTAB process," a status report in a Utah federal case indicates.
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July 18, 2024
Atty Says Golf Malpractice Row Already Ran Its Course
An attorney seeking summary judgment in a legal malpractice suit told a New York federal judge that, five years and three courts later, the owners of the Foothills Club West Golf Court have still failed to produce evidence to support their allegations.
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July 18, 2024
Creek Citizenship Case Paused Amid Tribal Court Controversy
The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Supreme Court has paused a dispute between descendants of those once enslaved by the tribe and its citizenship board after the two plaintiffs accused the tribe's national council of illegally appointing special justices to the panel as part of a targeted campaign against them.
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July 18, 2024
FordHarrison Accused Of Terrorizing Conn. Library Workers
Multistate employment law firm FordHarrison LLP has been dragged into existing feuds between a Connecticut library and two of its employees, with new state court lawsuits accusing the firm of misrepresenting state law and inflicting emotional distress by demanding the employees retract claims allegedly made at a public hearing.
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July 18, 2024
NY Courts Limit Access To Ethics Data, Violating Own Rules
After a decade of widespread noncompliance with income and gift reporting rules, the New York court system's Ethics Commission has refused to publicly release all judges' annual financial disclosures, which safeguard against conflicts of interest, corruption and ethics lapses.
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July 18, 2024
Attorney, Businessman Acquitted Of Crash Report Scheme
A Michigan federal judge on Tuesday cited insufficient evidence and ordered the cancellation of jury convictions against a lawyer and a medical business owner in an alleged scheme to obtain unreleased police crash reports illegally and use the reports to solicit clients.
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July 18, 2024
Colo. Injury Firm, Insurer End Bad Faith Suit
Two months after a Colorado personal injury firm and insurer settled a dispute over coverage of litigation costs, the two sides have agreed to dismiss the firm's lawsuit against a former firm attorney accused of trying to steal its entire class action department.
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July 18, 2024
NJ Sen. President Settles Suit Over Filing After Client Died
New Jersey State Senate President Nick Scutari settled a malpractice case this week with a woman who claimed that he botched a personal injury case on behalf of her brother by waiting until months after her brother had died to file suit.
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July 18, 2024
Healthcare Co. Says Fired In-House Atty Lacks Standing To Sue
Kidney care company Panoramic Health has urged a Colorado federal judge to toss a former assistant general counsel's lawsuit that claims she was fired for raising concerns about violations of federal anti-kickback statutes.
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July 18, 2024
Pa. Office Blasts Atty's Blown Deadlines, Deflections Of Blame
A disbarred Philadelphia attorney shouldn't be reinstated because his missed deadlines and deflections of blame indicated that he had not moved on from the behavior that lost him his licenses to practice in Pennsylvania and Florida, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel told a state panel Thursday.
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July 18, 2024
Girardi Denied Bid To Delay Client Theft Trial To October
A California federal judge rejected disgraced lawyer Tom Girardi's motion to have his closely watched wire fraud trial moved to October from its current August start date, determining that he was unable to provide a genuine reason as to why proceedings should be pushed back two months.
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July 18, 2024
Ex-Pa. DA Suspended Over Alleged Prosecutorial Misconduct
The former district attorney of Bedford County, Pennsylvania, had her law license suspended Tuesday after multiple cases she oversaw during her time in office ended up being dismissed due to prosecutorial misconduct.
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July 18, 2024
DeSantis Blasts Ousted Atty's 3rd Bid To 'Rush' 11th Circ. Call
Suspended Florida prosecutor Andrew Warren should not be allowed to "rush" the Eleventh Circuit's consideration of the prosecutor's case, which could have "sweeping implications" for Florida's government, Gov. Ron DeSantis told the appellate court Thursday.
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July 18, 2024
Judge With Lake Property Exits $217M Dam Repair Tax Suit
A Michigan federal judge said he would step aside in a fight over a $217 million tax assessment to fund dam reconstruction because he's part of the assessment district, though he warned that hundreds of plaintiffs could have their own conflicts.
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July 18, 2024
NJ Law Firm Accused Of Botching Official Misconduct Case
A former sergeant in the Mercer County Sheriff's Office has launched a malpractice suit against a Passaic, New Jersey-based law firm, alleging that its attorneys caused him to lose thousands per month in disability benefits by mishandling his legal defense against misconduct charges.
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July 18, 2024
Del. Justices Asked To Undo Firm's 'Malicious' Suit Escape
Applied Energetics is asking the Delaware Supreme Court to revive a complaint alleging Gusrae Kaplan Nusbaum PLLC and a former partner filed a frivolous federal securities fraud suit in order to hobble other litigation against the company's former chief executive officer.
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July 18, 2024
Defense Attys Raised Cash For New Judge In Young Thug Trial
Three defense attorneys in the long-running and tumultuous prosecution of rapper Young Thug hosted a campaign fundraiser in 2022 for the third and latest judge assigned to the case this week, adding yet another potential hiccup to the bench's game of musical chairs.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
High Court's Ethics Statement Places Justices Above The Law
The U.S. Supreme Court justices' disappointing statement on the court's ethics principles and practices reveals that not only are they satisfied with a status quo in which they are bound by fewer ethics rules than other federal judges, but also that they've twisted the few rules that do apply to them, says David Janovsky at the Project on Government Oversight.
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Opinion
Time For Law Schools To Rethink Unsung Role Of Adjuncts
As law schools prepare for the fall 2023 semester, administrators should reevaluate the role of the underappreciated, indispensable adjunct, and consider 16 concrete actions to improve the adjuncts' teaching experience, overall happiness and feeling of belonging, say T. Markus Funk at Perkins Coie, Andrew Boutros at Dechert and Eugene Volokh at UCLA.
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Tips For In-House Legal Leaders In A Challenging Economy
Amid today's economic and geopolitical uncertainty, in-house legal teams are running lean and facing increased scrutiny and unique issues, but can step up and find innovative ways to manage outcomes and capitalize on good business opportunities, says Tim Parilla at LinkSquares.
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How Cognizant Bribery Case Could Shape DOJ Investigations
A case playing out in New Jersey federal court – U.S. v. Coburn, involving bribery charges against former Cognizant executives – will examine when a company’s cooperation becomes an outsourced investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, and could potentially limit the government’s use of certain evidence, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.
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SEC May Be Regulating By Enforcement With Atty Actions
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent high-profile actions against Covington and Frost & Miller show the agency is taking "regulation by enforcement" to a new arena — attorney misconduct — despite having a never-used rule on the books at its disposal, say attorneys at Tarter Krinsky.
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What Associates Need To Know Before Switching Law Firms
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
The days of staying at the same firm for the duration of one's career are mostly a thing of the past as lateral moves by lawyers are commonplace, but there are several obstacles that associates should consider before making a move, say attorneys at HWG.
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A Case For Sharing Mediation Statements With Counterparties
In light of a potential growing mediation trend of only submitting statements to the mediator, litigants should think critically about the pros and cons of exchanging statements with opposing parties as it could boost the chances of reaching a settlement, says Arthur Eidelhoch at Eidelhoch Mediation.
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Ethics Lessons From Outside Counsel Plotline In 'Succession'
A Season 3 storyline from “Succession,” featuring an outside counsel's ham-handed missteps, provides ethics lessons for white collar defense lawyers, especially in light of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent corporate enforcement policy shifts, says Megan McDermott at the University of Wisconsin.
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Preparing For Legal Scrutiny Of Data Retention Policies
Two recent cases involving Google and Meta should serve as a call to action for companies to ensure their data retention policies are updated and properly implemented to the degree of being able to withstand judicial scrutiny, especially as more data is generated by emerging technologies, say Jack Kallus and Labeed Choudhry at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Opinion
Attorneys Should Have An Ethical Duty To Advance DEI
National and state bar associations are encouraging attorneys to apply diversity, equity and inclusion practices in the legal profession and beyond, and these associations should take it one step further by formally recognizing ethical duties for attorneys to promote DEI, which could better the legal profession and society, says Elena Mitchell at Moore & Van Allen.
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Use Caution In Cases Involving Illegal Images Of Minors
In cases where underage victims of sexual assault and abuse have been coerced into sharing nude or sexual images, attorneys representing abuse survivors must understand the strict protocols that regulate the handling of such illegal images, while taking care to protect essential evidence, says Michelle Simpson Tuegel at Simpson Tuegel.
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Data-Driven Insights Are Key To Attracting Today's Clients
As law firm growth slows and competition for clients increases, modern firms must rely on robust data analytics to develop the sector-based expertise and industry insights that clients increasingly prioritize in relationships with counsel, says Lavinia Calvert at Intapp.
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Ghosting In BigLaw: Why Better Feedback Habits Are Needed
Not giving assignments or constructive criticism to junior associates can significantly affect their performance and hours, potentially leading them to leave the firm, but partners can prevent this by asking the right questions and creating a culture of feedback, says Rachel Patterson at Orrick.
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Calif. Ruling Adds Employer Considerations On Email Policies
Following a California appellate court's recent decision disqualifying an attorney in Militello v. VFarm 1509, companies should take steps to explicitly inform employees of email monitoring, as it could affect the admissibility of email evidence if a dispute arises, say Shawn Ogle and David Sarfati at Atkinson Andelson.
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Rebuttal
Law Needs A Balance Between Humanism And Formalism
A recent Law360 guest article rightly questions the pretextual pseudo-originalism that permits ideology to masquerade as judicial philosophy, but the cure would kill the patient because directness, simplicity and humanness are achievable without renouncing form or sacrificing stare decisis, says Vanessa Kubota at the Arizona Court of Appeals.