Legal Ethics

  • June 01, 2026

    As Judicial AI Use Gains Steam, Training Lags

    Court systems around the country are emerging bullish on the use of generative artificial intelligence by judicial officers, but implementation, training, resources and overall regulations remain scattershot, giving rise to concerns that a learning gap could lead to missteps.

  • June 01, 2026

    Fla. Judge Again Loses Bid To Dismiss Ethics Charges

    A Florida judicial panel has for a second time denied a Florida appellate judge's bid to dismiss an ethics case accusing her of attempting to influence lower court proceedings for an incarcerated man formerly on death row.

  • June 01, 2026

    Okla. Firm Wants Malpractice Suit Over $92M Verdict Tossed

    An Oklahoma-based law firm is urging a federal court to toss a suit alleging its negligence in representing a Munich Re unit in a coverage dispute over an apartment fire is to blame for a $92 million judgment, saying the suit fails to show an actual malpractice claim.

  • May 29, 2026

    Calif. Panel Reverses Order For Citing Atty's Bogus Case Law

    A California appellate panel on Thursday reversed a judgment in favor of a man accused of abusing his son, finding that "without doubt" the trial judge abused her discretion by incorporating the man's bogus legal citations into her ruling, despite being alerted to the mistakes in advance.

  • May 29, 2026

    NC Prosecutors Oppose Criminal Contempt For Witness

    A woman who was allegedly punched in the face by an attorney should not have been held in criminal contempt for giving too much hearsay testimony, North Carolina prosecutors told a state appeals court.

  • May 29, 2026

    Akin Gump Owes Fees For Winebow's 'Self-Indulgent' Appeal

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday ordered an importer's Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP attorneys to pay a European winemaker fees for having to defend against the importer's "spurious objections" to the winemaker's valid arbitral award, ruling that the importer's "self-indulgent" appeal warrants sanctions in the form of fees.

  • May 29, 2026

    Lockheed Beats Families' Birth Defects Suit At Trial

    A Florida federal jury returned a defense verdict in favor of Lockheed Martin Corp. after finding the company's chemical handling practices at an Orlando weapons manufacturing facility did not cause birth defects.

  • May 29, 2026

    Telecom Shareholders Seek Fees Over 'Frivolous' Stay Bid

    Minority shareholders of a telecommunications infrastructure company have pressed a New York federal judge to order the majority shareholders to pay attorney fees incurred while defending against what the judge called one of the most "frivolous" stay requests he has ever seen.

  • May 29, 2026

    NY Judge Doubts Nussbaum-Linked Firms Belong In Ch. 11

    A New York bankruptcy judge on Friday questioned whether his court was the proper venue to wind down two commercial real estate law firms headed by Mark J. Nussbaum as the debtors sought to ditch an assignment for the benefit of creditors process in New York state court.

  • May 29, 2026

    Fed. Judge Rips Altice, Touchstream For Patent Case Delays

    A New York federal judge denied broadband and video provider Altice's request for judgment on the pleadings in patent litigation brought by Touchstream Technologies, calling it "a delayed, misfiled, hyper-technical and largely meritless motion," while criticizing Touchstream as "also responsible for tactical decisions which led to significant delays."

  • May 29, 2026

    Texas Justices To Weigh Attys' $126K Sanction In Horse Row

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday said it would hear a petition from two law firms and a veterinary center in which they dispute a roughly $126,000 sanction imposed on counsel after alleged violations of a limine agreement, leading to a mistrial.

  • May 29, 2026

    Fla. Panel Revives Firm's Suit Over Tobacco Case Referrals

    A Florida state appellate court revived a law firm's complaint alleging tortious interference against a widow over a contingency fee agreement involving tobacco injury case referrals, finding that the lower court wrongly tossed the lawsuit based on extraneous information even though there was sufficient evidence to support a claim.

  • May 29, 2026

    Calif. Supreme Court OKs Challenges To Blanket Judge DQs

    The California Supreme Court has opened the door to challenges to blanket judicial disqualifications across the largest state court system in the country, partially overturning a precedent established nearly 50 years ago.

  • May 29, 2026

    Georgia Lawyer Again Seeks To DQ Judge Over Bar Referral

    A Georgia attorney has launched at least the second attempt to disqualify a federal judge from presiding over a case he is handling because the judge previously referred him to the state bar, alleging ethics violations.

  • May 29, 2026

    Ex-Judge's Move To Firm Earns DQ In Fla. Divorce Case

    A Florida appeals court ruled Friday that a Daytona Beach law firm should have been disqualified from representing a man in a divorce proceeding for failing to provide proper notice that a judge who previously oversaw the case had joined the firm as a partner.

  • May 29, 2026

    Dems Say DOJ Blocked Bondi On Trump Questions

    Democrats were incensed on Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice attorneys who accompanied former Attorney General Pam Bondi to her committee interview stopped her from answering questions about President Donald Trump.

  • May 29, 2026

    White House Says It's Following Presidential Records Law

    The Trump administration told a D.C. federal judge that it is complying with his injunction last week requiring White House staff to follow record-keeping rules set out in the Presidential Records Act, but signalled that it may appeal the ruling in the future.

  • May 28, 2026

    3M, DuPont Lose PFAS Forum-Shopping Sanctions Bid

    A Montana federal judge Thursday declined to sanction Connecticut municipalities for moving firefighter turnout gear PFAS claims to his jurisdiction after roughly two years of litigation on the East Coast, ruling that consolidation of the claims "regardless of district" is "beneficial to all parties."

  • May 28, 2026

    Injury Law Roundup: Freight Brokers, Uber Lose Key Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court's green light of negligent hiring claims against freight brokers in highway crash cases and an adverse verdict against Uber in the sexual assault multidistrict litigation lead Law360's Injury Law Roundup.

  • May 28, 2026

    Pa. Panel Orders Judge Replaced In Sex Abuse Retrial

    A county judge must step aside for the retrial of an accused child sex offender, a Pennsylvania appeals court said Thursday, finding that, because the judge repeatedly declared that the man was innocent of the crimes in a prior proceeding, his impartiality was questionable.

  • May 28, 2026

    IRS Ordered To Repay Law Firm $1.5M For Mistaken Levy

    A Maryland federal court ordered the U.S. government to pay back over $1.5 million to a Baltimore law firm, finding the government failed to prove the firm is an alter ego of one of its clients that failed to pay its corporate taxes.

  • May 28, 2026

    Parents Demand 'Bad Faith' Sanctions In Camp Mystic Case

    Camp Mystic in Texas' Hill Country should be sanctioned over "bad faith" conduct in litigation over flooding deaths last summer, including purported misrepresentations to courts and regulators and an alleged remark by one of its attorneys to a plaintiffs' lawyer that he would "burn in hell," a state court has been told.

  • May 28, 2026

    'Socioeconomic' Remark At Atty's Homicide Trial Vexes Judge

    A prosecutor's "socioeconomic" description of the man shot to death by a former Cramer & Anderson LLP partner may have been improper, a Connecticut appellate judge said Thursday, casting some doubt on the integrity of Robert L. Fisher Jr.'s manslaughter conviction.

  • May 28, 2026

    Goldstein Says Bad Jury Instructions Warrant New Trial

    SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein said that the prosecutors who convicted him on 12 tax and mortgage fraud charges in February are now contradicting arguments they made at the end of his trial in their attempt to deny him a bench acquittal or new trial.

  • May 28, 2026

    King & Spalding Blocked From Exiting $300M Fraud Lawsuit

    King & Spalding LLP and Lennon Murphy & Phillips LLC can't withdraw from representing clients in consolidated litigation over an alleged $300 million stock swindle, a Connecticut state court judge has ruled, saying the firms' motions ahead of a June trial lack good cause.

Expert Analysis

  • Attys Beware: Generative AI Can Also Hallucinate Metadata

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    In addition to the well-known problem of AI-generated hallucinations in legal documents, AI tools can also hallucinate metadata — threatening the integrity of discovery, the reliability of evidence and the ability to definitively identify the provenance of electronic documents, say attorneys at Law & Forensics.

  • DOJ Faces Potential Discovery Pitfalls In Comey Prosecution

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    The unusual circumstances surrounding the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey increase the odds of a discovery misstep for the U.S. Department of Justice, offering important reminders for defense counsel on how to ensure the government fulfills its obligations, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.

  • When Atty Ethics Violations Give Rise To Causes Of Action

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    Though the Model Rules of Professional Conduct make clear that a violation of the rules does not automatically create a cause of action, attorneys should beware of a few scenarios in which they could face lawsuits for ethical lapses, says Brian Faughnan at Faughnan Law.

  • Series

    Practicing Stoicism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Practicing Stoicism, by applying reason to ignore my emotions and govern my decisions, has enabled me to approach challenging situations in a structured way, ultimately providing advice singularly devoted to a client's interest, says John Baranello at Moses & Singer.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Texas, One Year In

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    A year after the Texas Business Court's first decision, it's clear that Texas didn't just copy Delaware and instead built something uniquely its own, combining specialization with constitutional accountability and creating a model that looks forward without losing touch with the state's democratic and statutory roots, says Chris Bankler at Jackson Walker.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Educating Your Community

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    Nearly two decades prosecuting scammers and elder fraud taught me that proactively educating the public about the risks they face and the rights they possess is essential to building trust within our communities, empowering otherwise vulnerable citizens and preventing wrongdoers from gaining a foothold, says Roger Handberg at GrayRobinson.

  • 5 Crisis Lawyering Skills For An Age Of Uncertainty

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    As attorneys increasingly face unprecedented and pervasive situations — from prosecutions of law enforcement officials to executive orders targeting law firms — they must develop several essential competencies of effective crisis lawyering, says Ray Brescia at Albany Law School.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For The Judiciary To Fix Its Cybersecurity Problem

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    After recent reports that hackers have once again infiltrated federal courts’ electronic case management systems, the judiciary should strengthen its cybersecurity practices in line with executive branch standards, outlining clear roles and responsibilities for execution, says Ilona Cohen at HackerOne.

  • Series

    Writing Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Writing my debut novel taught me to appreciate the value of critique and to never give up, no matter how long or tedious the journey, providing me with valuable skills that I now emphasize in my practice, says Daniel Buzzetta at BakerHostetler.

  • Trader Joe's Ruling Highlights Trademark Infringement Trends

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Trader Joe's Co. v. Trader Joe's United explores the legal boundaries between a union's right to advocate for workers and the protection of a brand's intellectual property, and illustrates a growing trend of courts disfavoring early dismissal of trademark infringement claims in the context of expressive speech, say attorneys at Mitchell Silberberg.

  • Decoding Arbitral Disputes: Arbitrator's Conviction Upheld

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    The Supreme Court of Spain recently upheld the criminal conviction of arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa for grave disobedience to judicial authority, rejecting the proposition that an arbitrator's independence can prevail over a court order retroactively disabling the very judicial act conferring arbitral jurisdiction, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.

  • SDNY OpenAI Order Clarifies Preservation Standards For AI

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    The Southern District of New York’s recent order in the OpenAI copyright infringement litigation, denying discovery of The New York Times' artificial intelligence technology use, clarifies that traditional preservation benchmarks apply to AI content, relieving organizations from using a “keep everything” approach, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • In NY, Long COVID (Tolling) Still Applies

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    A series of pandemic-era executive orders in New York tolling state statutes of limitations for 228 days mean that many causes of action that appear time-barred on their face may continue to apply, including in federal practice, for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Sher Tremonte.

  • Opinion

    High Court, Not A Single Justice, Should Decide On Recusal

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    As public trust in the U.S. Supreme Court continues to decline, the court should adopt a collegial framework in which all justices decide questions of recusal together — a reform that respects both judicial independence and due process for litigants, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

  • Reel Justice: 'One Battle After Another' And The Limits Of Zeal

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    The political thriller “One Battle After Another,” following a former revolutionary who became a recluse, offers a potent metaphor for attorneys on diligence and the ethical boundaries of zealous advocacy, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University School of Law.

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