Legal Ethics

  • March 11, 2025

    Rising Caseloads Call For 71 New Judges: Judicial Conference

    The Judicial Conference of the United States on Tuesday asked Congress to create dozens of new judgeships in districts across the country in an effort to address what it calls a "worsening shortage" of judges amid mounting caseloads, months after then-President Joe Biden vetoed a bill to add 63 new permanent judgeships over partisan concerns.

  • March 11, 2025

    GPB Capital Execs Denied New Trial In Fraud Case

    Two GPB Capital executives were denied a new trial by a Brooklyn federal judge who said a jury was reasonable in finding them guilty of running their funds like a Ponzi scheme, using investor capital to make distribution payments to give the appearance of a healthy portfolio.

  • March 11, 2025

    Ex-Prosecutor's Handling Of 2017 Protest Evidence Defended

    A former federal prosecutor accused of withholding key evidence in the criminal cases against hundreds of people arrested at a 2017 anti-Trump demonstration in Washington, D.C., was working "under profoundly challenging conditions" at the time, her attorney told an ethics panel in the nation's capital on Tuesday.

  • March 11, 2025

    Alleged Fake Atty Meddled In Real Lawyer's Case, Jury Told

    A Philadelphia trial lawyer told a Manhattan federal jury Tuesday that a convicted fraudster accused of posing as a lawyer asked that he file a motion for a client in a criminal case that was "vague," "frivolous" and "not good."

  • March 11, 2025

    Eric Adams Case Dying Slow Death In 'Sovereign' District

    Experts say New York City Mayor Eric Adams' criminal corruption case appears on track to be tossed permanently — a looming development that could signal the end of the fierce independence of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

  • March 11, 2025

    Threats Against Judges 'Top Priority,' Fed. Judiciary Says

    Protecting federal judges is a "top priority" as violent threats spike against a polarized political backdrop, making congressional funding for additional security measures more important than ever, the U.S. Judicial Conference said Tuesday.

  • March 11, 2025

    NJ Power Broker Fights Civil Suit After Criminal Case Victory

    South Jersey power broker George Norcross and his brother moved this week to dismiss a civil racketeering suit against them arguing that the plaintiff's claims "parroted" a criminal indictment against them that was recently dismissed.

  • March 11, 2025

    Publix's Suit Over Ga. County's Private Attys 'Beyond Reason'

    Publix can't sue a metro Atlanta county to force it to drop its private attorneys who filed an opioid suit against the supermarket chain, the Georgia Court of Appeals has said, ruling that the company "fails to show what right the county has violated by its choice of counsel."

  • March 11, 2025

    Ex-J&J Atty Says She Was Fired For Making Ethics Complaint

    A former in-house data privacy attorney for Johnson & Johnson has sued the company for discrimination in New Jersey federal court, alleging that she was passed over for a promotion based on her Latina ethnicity and fired for reporting unethical behavior by the attorney who got the job.

  • March 11, 2025

    Goldstein Wants Look At Testimony On Alleged Obstruction

    U.S. Supreme Court lawyer and SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein asked a Maryland federal judge to let him see grand jury material related to the government's claim that he offered to pay a potential witness cryptocurrency in his tax evasion case.

  • March 11, 2025

    NJ High Court Approves AG Conflicts Waiver Pilot Program

    The New Jersey Supreme Court has given the go-ahead for a two-year pilot program through which the state attorney general will be allowed to waive conflicts of interest for public clients represented by the Office of the Attorney General.

  • March 10, 2025

    Epic, Apple Duel Over App-Store Injunction Compliance

    Epic Games urged a California federal judge to find that Apple violated her order blocking the tech giant from enacting App Store rules that prevent developers from steering users to alternative payment methods while Apple argued in its own filing that it complied as it "reasonably understood" the injunction.

  • March 10, 2025

    Illinois Judge Floats Sanctions In Akorn Mootness Fee Fight

    An Illinois federal judge signaled Tuesday that he was open to sanctions including a mandatory violation disclosure against plaintiffs' counsel as he continues navigating a challenge to so-called mootness fees paid to settle and dismiss allegedly baseless Akorn Inc. merger disclosure suits. 

  • March 10, 2025

    Realtek's Antitrust Claims Against MediaTek Pared Back

    A California federal judge on Friday dismissed Realtek Semiconductor's claims that MediaTek and two other companies conspired to restrain trade through a series of sham patent suits, while keeping claims tied to two 2021 federal cases in Texas that he said Realtek plausibly alleged to be baseless.

  • March 10, 2025

    Gaming Websites Can't Stop Law Firms' Arbitrations

    A D.C. federal judge has nixed a lawsuit by two online "social casino" websites that accuse two law firms of filing meritless arbitration against them, finding that his court doesn't have jurisdiction over the firms.

  • March 10, 2025

    GOP Sens. Escalate Fight With ABA Over 'Leftist' Statements

    A group of Senate Republicans are once again going after the American Bar Association, which they claim has become a "leftist" organization, and announced Monday they will disregard ABA ratings on judicial nominees and encouraged the Trump administration and their colleagues to do the same.

  • March 10, 2025

    Split 5th Circ. Vacates Death Sentence Over Brady Violations

    A split Fifth Circuit has reversed and vacated a Texas woman's murder conviction and death sentence after 27 years, having determined that prosecutors failed to properly disclose evidence in accordance with U.S. Supreme Court precedent, and remanded the case to Amarillo, Texas, federal court.

  • March 10, 2025

    Accused Fraudster An Innocent 'Jailhouse Lawyer,' Jury Told

    A Long Island man charged with posing as an attorney to defraud families of inmates is really an innocent "jailhouse lawyer" who continued to help people after serving his own fraud sentence, his counsel told a Manhattan federal jury Monday.

  • March 10, 2025

    2 Firms Sued After Cyber Thief Steals $442K From Estate

    Law firms SutterWilliams LLC and Allender & Allender PA were hit with a negligence and malpractice suit after a cybercriminal allegedly used spoofed email accounts to trick an attorney at the latter firm into handing over $442,600 from the sale of a late Pennsylvania sheriff's deputy's house in Florida.

  • March 10, 2025

    DC Ethics Hearing Over Anti-Trump Protest Arrests To Kick Off

    A former federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., is set to face an attorney ethics panel Tuesday in disciplinary proceedings that could shed new light on how the government handled key evidence in cases against hundreds of people arrested at protests of President Donald Trump's first inauguration in 2017.

  • March 10, 2025

    Hagens Berman Comms With Ghosting Client Kept Privileged

    Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP doesn't have to turn over texts and emails with a client who disappeared from a putative class action against Apple and Amazon, a Washington federal judge has ruled, despite the tech giants' accusations that the firm lied about those communications.

  • March 10, 2025

    Texas Atty Wants Allstate Sanctioned Over 'Dead' Expert Claim

    A prominent Houston lawyer has denied filing a document purportedly signed by a long-dead expert witness and urged a Texas federal judge to sanction Allstate for accusing him of doing so, saying the signature actually belonged to the deceased expert's similarly named son.

  • March 10, 2025

    Patent Exec Seeks Defamation Win Over Atty's Statements

    A patent-licensing company executive has asked a Florida federal court to rule in his favor on a defamation claim against a Baker Botts LLP attorney representing Starbucks in a Texas patent case and toss a counterclaim from the attorney, saying her abuse-of-process allegation "reads like a failed exercise in ontological gymnastics."

  • March 10, 2025

    Fla. Judge Won't Exit DaBaby Suit Over Sanctions, Comments

    A Florida federal judge will not step aside from a lawsuit against rapper DaBaby over an altercation before a scheduled performance, saying his imposition of sanctions on the plaintiffs' attorney and statements during trial do not amount to bias.

  • March 10, 2025

    Clerks May Seek Political Jobs On 'Case-By-Case Basis'

    Individual federal judges may determine whether their clerks may seek political posts while employed by the judiciary, the Judicial Conference of the United States' Committee on Codes of Conduct now recommends, months after issuing guidance advising clerks to hold off seeking such roles until their clerkships end.

Expert Analysis

  • 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond

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    In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Key Ethical Issues For Gov't Attys Moving To Private Practice

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    Transitioning from government service to private practice presents complex ethical challenges for attorneys, including navigating conflicts of interest, confidential information rules and post-employment restrictions, say attorneys at HWG.

  • 7 Ways 2nd Trump Administration May Affect Partner Hiring

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    President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House will likely have a number of downstream effects on partner hiring in the legal industry, from accelerated hiring timelines to increased vetting of prospective employees, say recruiters at Macrae.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Custodian Selection

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    Several recent rulings make clear that the proportionality of additional proposed custodians will depend on whether the custodians have unique relevant documents, and producing parties should consider whether information already in the record will show that they have relevant documents that otherwise might not be produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Series

    Exercising On My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While I originally came to the Peloton bike for exercise, one cycling instructor’s teachings have come to serve as a road map for practicing law thoughtfully and mindfully, which has opened opportunities for growth and change in my career, says Andrea Kirshenbaum at Littler.

  • Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation

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    Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Series

    Playing Esports Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Competing in a global esports tournament at Wimbledon last year not only fulfilled my childhood dream, but also sharpened skills that are essential to my day job, including strategic thinking, confidence and networking, says AJ Schuyler at Jackson Lewis.

  • An Associate's Guide To Career Development In 2025

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    As the new year begins, associates at all levels should consider establishing career metrics, fostering key relationships and employing other specific strategies to help move through the complexities of the legal profession with confidence and emerge as trailblazers, say EJ Stern and Amanda George at Fractional Law Firm.

  • Series

    Fixing Up Cars Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    From problem-solving to patience and adaptability to organization, the skills developed working under the hood of a car directly translate to being a more effective lawyer, says Christopher Mdeway at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Making The Pitch To Grow Your Company's Legal Team

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    In a compressed economy, convincing the C-suite to invest in additional legal talent can be a herculean task, but a convincing pitch — supported by metrics and cost analyses — may help in-house counsel justify the growth of their team, say Elizabeth Smith and Roger Garceau at Major Lindsey.

  • The Implications Of 2024's AI Rules And Regs For Patent Attys

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    Christina Huang, John Smith and Devin Stein at Faegre Drinker review this year's new rules and regulations on the development and use of artificial intelligence — from the Biden administration, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the American Bar Association and various states — as they apply to patent attorneys.

  • When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US

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    As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court’s recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • What 2024 Trends In Marketing, Comms Hiring Mean For 2025

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    The state of hiring in legal industry marketing, business development and communications over the past 12 months was marked by a number of trends — from changes in the C-suite to lateral move challenges — providing clues for what’s to come in the year ahead, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Series

    Group Running Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The combination of physical fitness and community connection derived from running with a group of business leaders has, among other things, helped me to stay grounded, improve my communication skills, and develop a deeper empathy for clients and colleagues, says Jessica Shpall Rosen at Greenwald Doherty.

  • How White Collar Defense Attys Can Use Summary Witnesses

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    Few criminal defense attorneys have successfully utilized summary witnesses in the past, but several recent success stories show that it can be a worthwhile trial tactic to help juries understand the complex decision-making at issue, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

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