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Legal Ethics
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July 30, 2024
Quinn Emanuel Must Prove Authority In $486M Award Fight
A divided D.C. Circuit panel ruled Tuesday that a lower court should have determined whether Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP had authority to represent Doraleh Container Terminal SA before deciding whether to enforce a $486 million arbitral award issued against Djibouti.
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July 29, 2024
8th Circ. Tosses 'Windfall' $79M Legal Fee In T-Mobile Suit
The Eighth Circuit on Monday threw out a $78.7 million attorney fee award for plaintiffs' attorneys who negotiated a $350 million settlement with T-Mobile over a massive data breach in 2021, saying the award amounts to a "windfall" for class counsel.
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July 29, 2024
Live Nation Judge Tightens In-House Counsel's Access To Docs
A New York federal judge imposed new restrictions Monday on Live Nation in-house counsel's access to documents and testimony from witnesses from its rivals in the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit, tightening a days-old two-tiered system after hearing concerns from those competitors.
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July 29, 2024
Fla. Judge Pauses Part Of $20M Suit Between Ex-Law Partners
A Florida judge on Monday paused part of a $20 million dispute between former law partners after finding that some of the claims involved are related to those that he has already sent to arbitration last month.
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July 29, 2024
7th Circ. OKs Sanctioning Atty For Pushing Opposing Counsel
A Seventh Circuit panel has affirmed sanctions against a Chicago employment attorney for cursing and pushing opposing counsel who represented the Chicago Board of Education in a First Amendment dispute, finding Monday that the record supports the finding that the attorney knowingly lied when she claimed the physical contact was "unintentional."
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July 29, 2024
Vaccine Co. Was Sanctioned For Deliberately Hiding Testing
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal backed sanctions for Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics' "egregious abuse" of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board system because of the patent owner's "deliberate scheme to hide" harmful evidence from the board, she said in an opinion made public Friday.
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July 29, 2024
Firm Partners Ask Fla. Court To Toss Investor's Derivative Suit
Two partners in a law firm have asked a Florida court to dismiss a derivative lawsuit brought by an investor claiming that they orchestrated a litigation funding fraud, arguing that the investor has no right to bring the suit without a vote from the other members of the company.
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July 29, 2024
Amex Inks $3M Deal To Settle Girardi Bankruptcy Suit Claims
American Express reached a $3 million deal to settle claims brought by the Girardi Keese bankruptcy trustee accusing the credit giant's banking unit and another subsidiary of enabling $50.25 million in fraudulent transfers as part of the now-defunct law firm's scheme to defraud creditors.
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July 29, 2024
Calif. Panel Weighs Guidance On Judges' School Fundraising
On Monday, the California Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Ethics Opinions released its latest draft opinion, soliciting public input in proposed guardrails for judicial officers' personal participation in their children's school fundraising efforts.
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July 29, 2024
Hunter Biden Attys Say They Didn't Mislead Judge In Tax Case
Hunter Biden's attorneys told a Los Angeles federal judge that while several statements in their motion to dismiss tax charges against the president's son were worded "perhaps inartfully," they never intended to mislead the court in a way that would merit sanctions.
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July 29, 2024
Immigration Firm Wants Injunction In Trade Secret Fight
A Washington-based immigration law firm is arguing that a Colombian ex-employee helped a Houston immigration law firm poach its offshore employees in Colombia and copy its business model for building a large-scale firm, and that the court must declare a preliminary injunction to stop "irreparable harm."
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July 29, 2024
DeSantis Wants To Ax Suit Over Fla. Prosecutor Suspension
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis moved on Friday to dismiss an amended complaint regarding his suspension of elected prosecutor Monique Worrell, arguing that voters have no right to see an elected official serve an entire term.
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July 29, 2024
Firm, Ex-Client Brief Conn. High Court In Punitive Award Case
McCarter & English LLP and ex-client Jarrow Formulas Inc. are weighing in as the Connecticut Supreme Court decides whether a federal court can award law firms punitive damages in suits for breach of contract, as the firm seeks a punitive payout after winning multimillion-dollar judgments in a contract dispute.
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July 29, 2024
ABA's 1st Generative AI Opinion Points Attys To Ethical Duties
The American Bar Association ethics committee published on Monday its first formal opinion on attorney use of generative artificial intelligence tools, saying lawyers should consider their ethical obligations, including those related to model rules on competency, confidentiality and fees.
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July 29, 2024
Mich. AG Drops Remaining Case Against Carhartt Heiress Atty
Prosecutors will not retry a Michigan attorney they claim stole from his wealthy client, the late Carhartt company heiress Gretchen Valade, and have agreed to toss similar embezzlement charges in a separate case.
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July 29, 2024
Judge Narrows Ex-Worker's Claims Against Bronx DA's Office
A New York federal judge has trimmed claims in an employment suit lodged against the Bronx district attorney's office by a woman who worked there, holding that others alleging discrimination under the Family and Medical Leave Act and a racially driven promotion could move forward.
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July 29, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Litigation linked to Elon Musk sparked several filings in Delaware's Court of Chancery last week, including a call for sanctions and hand-wringing about a proposed multibillion-dollar attorney fee. Here, Law360 looks at this and other highlights from last week in Delaware's Chancery Court.
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July 29, 2024
Ga. Prosecutors Fight DQ Bid Over Secret Meeting In YSL Trial
Georgia prosecutors said Friday it would be "egregious abuse" of the court's discretion to grant Atlanta rapper Young Thug's request to have them disqualified from the racketeering trial because of a secret meeting with the judge and a witness, arguing that this is an unwarranted request that seeks to delay the already longest trial in Peach State history.
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July 29, 2024
Irked Judge Says Late Filing 'Sandbagged' Conn. Firm
A Connecticut state court judge on Monday chided attorneys for an eleventh-hour filing and other missed deadlines on behalf of a couple lodging malpractice claims against Evans & Lewis LLC, blocking the wife from testifying to fight the firm's attempt to throw her husband out of the lawsuit.
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July 29, 2024
Biden Support Adds Heat To Calls For Supreme Court Reform
President Joe Biden endorsed significant U.S. Supreme Court reform on Monday, calling on Congress to pass legislation that would impose term limits and an enforceable code of conduct on the justices and to adopt a constitutional amendment that would reverse the court's decision granting former presidents broad immunity for crimes committed in office.
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July 29, 2024
8 Ex-Employees Say NJ Firm Didn't Pay OT, Paid Women Less
Davis Saperstein & Salomon PC has been hit with a pair of lawsuits in New Jersey state court alleging the Bergen County-based personal injury firm didn't pay overtime wages, paid its female employees less than their male colleagues and subjected a pregnant woman to a hostile work environment.
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July 29, 2024
NC Attys Dismissed From Malpractice Suit Over Missed Filing
A pair of North Carolina-based attorneys involved in a legal malpractice suit filed by the parents of two children who died in a car fire were voluntarily dismissed from the family's suit against their former firm.
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July 29, 2024
Mich. Justices Say Subbed Atty Can't Be Sanctioned
Michigan's Supreme Court has ruled state statute doesn't require all attorneys representing a sanctioned party "be held jointly responsible for frivolous conduct," reversing a decision that imposed sanctions on an attorney who joined a real estate contract dispute after sanctionable conduct occurred.
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July 29, 2024
Reebok Rips Shoe Rival's 'Underhanded' Conduct In TM Case
Reebok asked a Massachusetts federal judge to sanction an Italian shoemaker and strike nearly three dozen witnesses who were disclosed at the last minute in a trademark case, the latest claim by the shoe and apparel giant of "underhanded" tactics.
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July 26, 2024
'Low-Grade Lawyering': Quinn Emanuel Attys Draw Judge's Ire
A California federal judge considering Guardant Health's sanctions bid in a false advertising case against rival Natera said Friday that representations to the court by Natera's attorneys from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP regarding a proposed expert witness were "less than forthright" and "pretty low-grade lawyering."
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Guardrails Needed Against Politically Motivated Atty Discipline
As illustrated by revelations about disbarred attorney Tom Girardi’s influence, there is a need to revamp attorney discipline to protect the public, but any reforms to misconduct rules must also consider how bar-directed disciplinary hearings are increasingly used as a political weapon, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.
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Groundbreaking Nev. Law May Alter Insurance Landscape
The Nevada Legislature recently passed a law prohibiting insurers from issuing liability policies with eroding limits provisions that has the potential to create massive shifts in the marketplace — and specifically in areas like professional liability, cyber, and directors and officers insurance, says Will Bennett at Saxe Doernberger.
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Perspectives
Mallory Gives Plaintiffs A Better Shot At Justice
Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern claim it opens the door to litigation tourism, but the ruling simply gives plaintiffs more options — enabling them to seek justice against major corporations in the best possible court, say Rayna Kessler and Ethan Seidenberg at Robins Kaplan.
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Durham Hearing Shows Common Cross-Examination Errors
Trial attorneys can glean several key cross-examination lessons from the mistakes made by several members of the U.S. House of Representatives during a recent hearing on special counsel John Durham’s FBI probe, say Luke Andrews and Asha Laskar at Poole Huffman.
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Opinion
When Corporate Self-Disclosure Threatens Individuals' Rights
The prosecution of former Cognizant executives in New Jersey federal court demonstrates how the U.S. Department of Justice’s corporate enforcement policy can contravene the constitutional rights of individual defendants who are employed by cooperating companies, says Gideon Mark at the University of Maryland.
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Pitfalls Of Attorney AI Use In Brief Prep Has Judges On Alert
Some lawyers are attempting to leverage generative artificial intelligence as a brief drafting tool, which may serve to greatly reduce the burden of motion practice, but several recent cases show that generative AI is not perfect and blind reliance on this tool can be very risky, say Matthew Nigriny and John Gary Maynard at Hunton.
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Courts Can Overturn Deficient State Regulations, Too
While suits challenging federal regulations have become commonplace, such cases against state agencies are virtually nonexistent, but many states have provisions that allow litigants to bring suit for regulations with inadequate cost-benefit analyses, says Reeve Bull at the Virginia Office of Regulatory Management.
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Tales From The Trenches Of Remote Depositions
As practitioners continue to conduct depositions remotely in the post-pandemic world, these virtual environments are rife with opportunities for improper behavior such as witness coaching, scripted testimony and a general lack of civility — but there are methods to prevent and combat these behaviors, say Jennifer Gibbs and Bennett Moss at Zelle.
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Insurance Coverage For ChatGPT Legal Fiasco: A Hypothetical
William Passannante at Anderson Kill draws on the recent case of an attorney sanctioned by the Southern District of New York for submitting a ChatGPT-authored brief to discuss what the insurance coverage for the attorney's hypothetical claim might look like.
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Level Up Lawyers' Business Development With Gamification
With employee engagement at a 10-year low in the U.S., there are several gamification techniques marketing and business development teams at law firms can use to make generating new clients and matters more appealing to lawyers, says Heather McCullough at Society 54.
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Mallory Ruling Leaves Personal Jurisdiction Deeply Unsettled
In Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway, a closely divided U.S. Supreme Court recently rolled back key aspects of its 2017 opinion in Daimler AG v. Bauman that limited personal jurisdiction, leaving as many questions for businesses as it answers, say John Cerreta and James Rotondo at Day Pitney.
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Handling Hostile Depositions: Keep Calm And Make A Record
When depositions turn contentious, attorneys should, among other strategies, maintain a professional demeanor and note any objectionable conduct on the record, thereby increasing chances of a favorable outcome for the client while preserving the integrity of the legal process, say attorneys at Steptoe & Johnson.
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5 Ways Firms Can Rethink Office Design In A Hybrid World
As workplaces across the country adapt to flexible work, law firms must prioritize individuality, amenities and technology in office design, says Kristin Cerutti at Nelson Worldwide.
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A Midyear Look At How AI Is Affecting Lawyers
The past six months have been a notable period for advancements in artificial intelligence and generative AI, and as we head into the second half of the year, we must review the implications that AI has for the legal industry, including how lawyers will be advising clients on use of AI technology, says Natasha Allen at Foley & Lardner.
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Opinion
Bar Score Is Best Hiring Metric Post-Affirmative Action
After the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling striking down affirmative action admissions policies, law firms looking to foster diversity in hiring should view an applicant's Multistate Bar Examination score as the best metric of legal ability — over law school name or GPA, says attorney Alice Griffin.