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Legal Ethics
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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May 31, 2024
Greek IT Company Sues NY Law Firm Over Leaked Patent Info
A Greece-based technology company has sued Ladas & Parry LLP in New York federal court, alleging that the firm sent proprietary information to a third party while the company had an attorney-client agreement with the firm.
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May 31, 2024
Texas Justices Take On Reach, Timing Of Atty Solicitation Law
The Texas Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider whether personal injury attorneys can face claims they paid "case runners" to solicit grieving families in Louisiana and Arkansas, saying it will examine whether the state's barratry statute extends to out-of-state conduct and the applicable limitations period.
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May 31, 2024
Former Miami City Atty Must Face Real Estate Fraud Suit
A former Miami city attorney can't escape a lawsuit that alleges she aided her husband in a real estate fraud scheme after a Florida state appeals court found the complaint had sufficient allegations to survive her sovereign immunity assertions.
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May 31, 2024
Beasley Allen Wants J&J Subpoenas Nixed Amid Ethics Fight
The Beasley Allen Law Firm and a plaintiff steering committee in the Johnson & Johnson talc litigation blasted subpoenas directed at the firm and others aimed at turning up evidence of an alleged scheme to muster opposition to J&J's latest $6.5 billion bankruptcy plan.
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May 31, 2024
Smith Gambrell Faces Slimmed Data Breach Suit
A California federal judge has trimmed the claims a proposed class of data breach victims brought against international law firm Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP, leaving the firm to face claims of negligence, invasion of privacy and violation of the California Unfair Competition Law.
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May 31, 2024
Robins Kaplan Can't Escape Sanction Over Dropbox Access
A New York state appeals court has upheld the $156,000 sanction on litigation funding firm KrunchCash and its counsel Robins Kaplan LLP for poking through an opposing party's Dropbox database that was accidentally shared in a $10 million suit, finding that they knew or should have known it was privileged information.
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May 31, 2024
Fight Between Trustee, Law Firm May Mean Less For Creditors
In the bankruptcy of collapsed California debt relief law firm Litigation Practice Group, a new law firm confirmed this week that it's not making payments to the bankruptcy estate, a situation that may limit a bankruptcy trustee's ability to make payments to creditors across the country.
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May 31, 2024
Atty Gets 2nd Suspension Over Sale Of $1.6M Painting
The Florida Supreme Court approved a one-year suspension for a New Jersey-based attorney and real estate developer this week who pled guilty to smuggling a $1.6 million painting out of his house in 2013 to avoid an asset sale.
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May 31, 2024
Trump Condemns NY Trial As Verdict Echoes In DC
A day after his conviction on 34 felony counts, former president Donald Trump on Friday attacked the Manhattan jury's verdict in a lengthy speech that mischaracterized multiple elements of the case as the decision reverberated through Washington, D.C.
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May 31, 2024
Texas Judge Opts Not To Recuse And Tosses Chamber Suit
A Texas federal judge has thrown out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's suit seeking to block the Federal Trade Commission from implementing a ban on noncompete clauses because a different plaintiff was first to file, adding he declined to recuse himself because no companies in his stock portfolio were parties in the case.
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May 31, 2024
Disbarring Giuliani Would 'Protect The Public,' DC Panel Says
A Washington, D.C., attorney ethics panel agreed Friday that Rudy Giuliani's role in former President Donald Trump's attempt to overturn Pennsylvania's presidential election in 2020 amounted to misconduct "of the utmost seriousness," and that disbarring him would "protect the public, the courts, and the integrity of the legal profession."
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May 31, 2024
Houston Judge's Vast Display Reflects 25 Years On Bench
Along the hallways leading to U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison's Houston courtroom hang hundreds of notes, photos, thank-you cards and other correspondence, serving as a kind of interactive scrapbook of Judge Ellison's 25 years on the bench.
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May 30, 2024
Regulator Says Attys Hit For AI Use Have Themselves To Blame
An attorney for Colorado's ethics watchdog said Thursday that recent disciplinary action against lawyers for filing briefs with fake case citations generated by ChatGPT indicates a "lawyer problem" rather than issues with the technology.
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May 30, 2024
'I Don't Need Help Running The Court,' Judge Chides Attys
A Michigan state judge on Thursday appeared frustrated with attorneys for MGM and its former law firm arguing over potential conflicts in an underlying case, telling them to stop avoiding his questions and saying he didn't "need help running the court."
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May 30, 2024
Netflix Fails To Show Inventor, Funder Violated Injunction
A California federal judge has said Netflix couldn't prove a Finnish inventor violated an injunction tied to his concealment of certain legal funds, or that a litigation fund manager the inventor worked with needs to face claims tied to that concealment.
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May 30, 2024
Colo. Justice Says Outside Watchdog Key For Judicial Ethics
A Colorado Supreme Court justice said Thursday that third-party oversight of judges' conduct was crucial to maintaining the public's trust in the legal system, speaking as part of an American Bar Association panel that touched on recent controversies, including those involving U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his wife.
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May 30, 2024
Ex-Chicago Mayor Dodges Atty's Lawsuit Over Zoom Tirade
An Illinois judge tossed a lawsuit brought by a former in-house attorney for the Chicago Park District accusing former Mayor Lori Lightfoot of unleashing a profane tirade laced with crude, insulting and defamatory comments during a Zoom call.
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May 30, 2024
Judge Rejects 'Audacity' Of Suspended Jurist's Reelection Bid
A Michigan state judge said Thursday he was surprised election officials hadn't already disqualified a suspended Detroit judge who had the "audacity" to run again despite being barred from the bench for six years, saying he intended to end her candidacy.
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May 30, 2024
Here's What Comes Next After Trump's Conviction
Donald Trump's forthcoming appeal of his historic conviction Thursday in the New York hush money case could include challenges to the state's evidence and jury instructions, but it's unlikely the case will be resolved before Election Day.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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How The Circuit Split Over CFPB Funding May Play Out
The Second Circuit created a circuit split last month when it found that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure doesn't violate the U.S. Constitution and clashed with the Fifth Circuit's holding that the CFPB itself is unconstitutional, but the U.S. Supreme Court may find a middle ground, say Andrew Braunstein and Casey Howard at Locke Lord.
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Short Message Data Challenges In E-Discovery
As short message platforms increasingly dominate work environments, lawyers face multiple programs, different communication styles and emoji in e-discovery, so they must consider new strategies to adapt their processes, says Cristin Traylor at Relativity.
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Opinion
Thomas Report Is Final Straw — High Court Needs Ethics Code
As a recent report on Justice Clarence Thomas' ongoing conflicts of interest makes evident, Supreme Court justices should be subject to an enforceable and binding code of ethics — like all other federal judges — to maintain the credibility of the institution, says Erica Salmon Byrne at Ethisphere.
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Joint Representation Ethics Lessons From Ga. Electors Case
The Fulton County district attorney's recent motion to disqualify an attorney from representing her elector clients, claiming a nonconsentable conflict of interest, raises key questions about representing multiple clients related to the same conduct and highlights potential pitfalls, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Grace Wynn at HWG.
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Lawyer Discernment Is Critical In The World Of AI
In light of growing practical concerns about risks and challenges posed by artificial intelligence, lawyers' experience with the skill of discernment will position them to help address new ethical and moral dilemmas and ensure that AI is developed and deployed in a way that benefits society as a whole, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.
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Don't Forget Alumni Engagement When Merging Law Firms
Neglecting law firm alumni programs after a merger can sever the deep connections attorneys have with their former firms, but by combining good data management and creating new opportunities to reconnect, firms can make every member in their expanded network of colleagues feel valued, say Clare Roath and Erin Warner at Troutman Pepper.
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Without Stronger Due Diligence, Attys Risk AML Regulation
Amid increasing pressure to mitigate money laundering and terrorism financing risks in gatekeeper professions, the legal industry will need to clarify and strengthen existing client due diligence measures — or risk the federal regulation attorneys have long sought to avoid, says Jeremy Glicksman at the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
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Insureds' Notice Pleading May Be Insufficient In Federal Court
A recent New Jersey federal court ruling in Bauman v. Hanover Insurance held that bare-bones notice pleading was insufficient and dismissed the policyholder's coverage complaint, a reminder that courts may require more than an expression of general disagreement with an insurance company's denial letter to proceed with the case, says Eugene Killian at The Killian Firm.
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Every Lawyer Can Act To Prevent Peer Suicide
Members of the legal industry can help prevent suicide among their colleagues, and better protect their own mental health, by learning the predictors and symptoms of depression among attorneys and knowing when and how to get practical aid to peers in crisis, says Joan Bibelhausen at Minnesota Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.